


Darling, Everything’s On Fire

by emiartse



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Sleepy Bois Inc, Video Blogging RPF, mcyt
Genre: Alivebur, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BAMF TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Blood and Injury, Carl is the only smart one, DADSCHLATT MOTHERFUCKERS, Dadza, Dream Smp, Dream is the main antagonist, Dream keeps Tubbo and Tommy apart, Emotional Manipulation, Exiled TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Fever, Fluff, Gen, Ghostbur, I changed the title because I’m indecisive, I will reiterate CANON MEANS NOTHING TO ME, Long-Haired Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Minecraft manhunt is a thing, Near Death Experiences, No I will not be mentioning the discs, Parent Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF), Past Abuse, Philza is under house arrest, Platonic Cuddling, President Toby Smith | Tubbo, Sign Language, Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, Suicide Attempt, Techno is just rude, Technoblade hears voices, Technoblade loves mythology, Tubbo and Tommy are platonic soulmates, Tubbo and Tommy talk through the compass, Tubbo is actually a good president, Villian Dream, Whump, Wilbur has flashbacks, Wilbur knows medical stuff, Winged Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), and I think that’s neat, but not really, canon means nothing to me, enderwalking memory boy, fight me, for plot reasons, formally known as You’re Not Alone Tommy, fuck c!dream, give these boys a hug, help him, him and friend are buddies:), i will write Phil like a good father and you can’t stop me, ill leave it at that, im not a touchy person but every character I write is extremely touch-starved, kind of, like ALOT, no disc drama and that’s final, same thing goes for techno, sbi, selective mutism, that’s his big brother dammit, the most y’all are getting is Wilbur and Tommy bonding over music, they cry for anarchy, things are less strained between them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:33:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 57,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28310193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emiartse/pseuds/emiartse
Summary: Sounds of fireballs and TNT echoed from behind him and Tommy swore he could almost hear Dream’s insane laughter chase after him. He didn’t stop to see whether or not it was true, so he kept running.Soon the ground leveled out as Tommy made his way off the mountain, but the sounds of decimation still followed. Why? Why was he still following him?He will never let you go.Keep running, Tommy.————————————————————————-Alternative Universe where Tommy tries to fight Dream in Logstedshire and then proceeds to run all the way to big brother Technoblade’s house.On accident of course.Featuring: Sleepy Bois Inc. +Tubbo
Relationships: Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Jschlatt & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Jschlatt & Wilbur Soot, Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo & Phil Watson, Toby Smith | Tubbo & Technoblade, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot, TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, no ships - Relationship
Comments: 239
Kudos: 1797





	1. Brothers.

**Author's Note:**

> I had to write this after seeing the stream where Tommy runs away.

_Keep running._

Tommy stumbles through the dense pine trees, branches scraping against his cheeks painfully. His foot catches on a stray root that sends him sprawling against the snow-covered ground.

His ankle twists at an awkward angle and Tommy bites his hand harshly to muffle his cries of pain. He turns briefly to dislodge his foot and scrambles back up on his feet and continues sprinting down the mountain.

_Don’t stop._

_Keep fucking going._

Sounds of fireballs and TNT echo from behind him and Tommy swears he could almost hear Dream’s insane laughter chase after him. He didn’t stop to see whether or not it was true, he just kept running.

Soon the ground levels out as Tommy makes his way off the snowy mountain, but the sounds of decimation still follow. Why? Why was he still pursuing him? 

_He will never let you go._

_Keep running, Tommy._

Tommy’s teeth chatter violently as he runs in the bitter cold. He is still clad in the remains of his old t-shirt and khakis from Logstedshire, he hadn't exactly had time to change. His fingers have long since turned a grayish-blue, but on the bright side, he can no longer feel his ankle.

An arrow suddenly whizzes past his head and Tommy turns to see a skeleton charging at him, bones clattering against one another as the monster chases after its target.

Tommy ducks as another deadly arrow soars past him and he begins sprinting once more. He wasn’t even sure where the hell he was at this point. 

What had he been thinking? Confronting Dream face-to-face without so much as a weapon had been a terrible idea to begin with. Not only had Logstedshire been lost but now Dream was on a bloodthirsty rampage to kill him.

_Don’t think about it._

_Just keep going._

_You’re almost there._

“I got it, shut up!” Tommy yells at the voice. He grabs the chain around his neck and pulls Tubbo’s compass up to his face.

The arrow currently points in the opposite direction in which he was sprinting. Grief pulls at his heart and he shoves the compass back down his shirt.

A fireball suddenly strikes next to him and Tommy is thrown off his feet into the air. He screams and flails his limbs wildly as he plummets back towards the unforgiving Earth. He lands on a particularly hard spot in the snow and winces. 

“Oh Tommy~ Where did you go? I heard you, Tommy.” Dream’s voice echoes from not too far off.

“Shit,” Tommy curses and rolls back onto his feet. He only makes it a few feet before a sharp pain strikes deep into his side. 

He couldn’t muffle his screams this time as his side burns from the fiery arrow that had just lodged itself deep inside him. He tumbles into the snow, rolling down a steep hill before finally landing on his back.

Tommy gasps at the pain as silent tears trickle downward and soon froze against his cheeks. He could feel the arrow shift in his side and wonders briefly if his organs had been pierced by the skeleton's deadly aim. He groans in agony but with shaky hands, he grasps the wooden shaft. Maybe it was the adrenaline pumping through his veins or perhaps the bitter cold, but Tommy somehow musters enough strength to rip the arrow from his side. He screams as the arrow tears from his side, taking bits of bloody flesh with it.

_What the fuck?!_

_Why would you do that!?_

“S-Shut...up, T-Tubs.” Tommy cries against the snow. Blood was now seeping from the gaping hole in his side, turning the snow next to him a dark crimson. 

It didn’t matter anyway. He was dead or at least he would be soon. It wouldn’t be long now. Dream would rage a fiery hell-storm of destruction to this land and that would be it. It would finally be over.

_No! Don’t give up!_

_Get up!_

_You have to get up!_

“I-I...I’m s-sorry, Tubbo. I-I...tried…” 

Another fireball explodes several feet away as Dream finally breaks through the dense forest and into the clearing. His bright white mask shone brightly in the moonlight. His iconic green hoodie covered in ash and his blond hair damp from the snow. The smile carved in his mask seemed almost like an omen of death to Tommy. How fitting.

Though Tommy couldn’t see Dream’s expression, he could guess it wasn’t a pleasant one. The man stalks over to him and kneels at his blood-soaked side.

He chuckles darkly as he grabs the front of his shirt, yanking the boy up to his face. Tommy cries out as his side gushed more blood.

“ _Tsk tsk_. What did I say, Tommy? I told you this would happen. You need me, idiot. Otherwise, you won’t last out here.”

Tommy glares at the man through half-lidded eyes, then spat at him.

“F-Fuck...you, D-Dream.” He rasps, his voice weak and stiff from the cold.

Dream doesn’t flinch and merely smiles, “Oh Tommy, I was hoping you and I would get along. Just like we had when we were younger, remember? You were such a fireball, back then. I really had hoped that you would see my side of things. Such a waste.”

Dream releases him and let Tommy fall back against the snow. He looks at Tommy for a long moment, his expression clouded by his mask, before pulling his Netherite dagger from its sheath. Tommy watches in fear as Dream twirls it around in his hands before turning back to face Tommy.

This is it. This is how I die.

Dream towers above him and points the enchanted sword to his chest. He smiles then mocks,

“As a wise man once said, Tommy. **_It was never meant to be.”_ **

Tommy clenches his eyes shut and waits for the blow to strike. He waits for his life to finally end.

It never came.

Instead, he hears the sounds of metal striking against metal followed by a series of angry curses.

Tommy opens his eyes to see Technoblade’s sword clash against Dream’s. He blinks in disbelief. His estranged older brother is protecting him? What? 

Techno dodges effortlessly as Dream charges at him, angry that he’d been interrupted. He moved with a speed that Tommy had trouble seeing, whether it was due to his injuries or the blizzard he couldn’t tell. Dream swings for Techno again and his sword cuts through the now empty air as Techno spins behind him. With a harsh kick to the back, Dream is sent tumbling to the ground. The half-pig hybrid turns briefly to shout at someone behind Tommy,

“Wil! Get him out of here! I got this!”

Tommy blinks slowly, wondering if he’d heard that correctly. If he hadn’t been a sliver away from death he would’ve flinched as cold hands slide under his legs and against his back and Wilbur hoists Tommy into his arms. 

Tommy looks up at his older brother in disbelief. Wil's face was deathly pale and his brown eyes dull and lifeless but he was no longer the transparent ghost he’d once been. 

Where before every time he tried to touch his brother he’d normally phase through him, Wilbur is now solid and whole. Tommy feels more tears threatening to spill over his pale cheeks. He chokes them back, not wanting to cry again.

He crushes his face against Wilbur’s chest and listens carefully for the final confirmation. It's faint and slow, not even close to what a normal heartbeat should sound like. But it is there. His heart is beating.

Wilbur is alive.

His brother is alive.

And his other brother has just saved his life.

**Dream was slain by Technoblade.**

**-1 Canon life. ??? remain.**

Relief floods his chest and Tommy allows the adrenaline to fade away. He feels funny, drunk almost, not that he knows what that feels like. His body feels light and he is so tired. He shifts his head back against Wilbur’s chest and Tommy lets himself be lulled into unconsciousness by the sound of his brother’s heartbeat.

—————————————-

Wilbur runs as fast as he could back to the cabin. His body still isn’t used to exertion, one of the many things he’d happily given up after dying. Tommy is bleeding freely from his side. He remembered Technoblade cursing loudly when he saw Tommy yank the arrow from his side. 

It had been a miracle they had found him in time. Thanks to Drista’s warning they were able to track Tommy down. They almost hadn’t made it thanks to one of Dream’s fireballs sending them both tumbling into a nearby cave.

Wilbur had never seen Technoblade so angry before. His face had grown dark with rage when he had seen Tommy so battered and bloodied. They may not have the best relationship but Tommy was still his little brother and he’d protect him no matter what.

Wilbur would strive to follow that mindset. He may not remember what he’d done in his previous life but he knew he’d make things right in this one. This was his second chance and he wouldn’t blow it.

A familiar house glows in the distance and Wilbur could see Carl restlessly pacing his enclosure. Wilbur nearly trips on the front steps, staggering a bit as he shifts Tommy in his arms. He isn’t heavy, he is honestly a bit too light for his comfort. It's just that Wilbur still was getting used to the hang of gravity again. 

Will fumbles briefly with the locks before entering the house. He sets Tommy down in front of the smoldering remains of the fire. Quickly, he runs past the zombie villagers Techno keeps and begins rummaging through his chests for bandages and healing potions. 

The door swings open as Techno charges into the room. Wilbur throws a wad of bandages at him and then turns back to his search for healing potions.

“How’s he doing?” Techno asks, shaking the snow out his hair as he begins to unwad the bandages in his hands.

“Not good. We need to stop the bleeding. Put pressure on it before trying to put the bandages on, otherwise, they’ll soak through immediately.”

“Any word from Phil?” 

“None. I think he’s under house arrest. It was the only way Tubbo could protect him from Dream.”

Techno snorts, “Right, ‘protect’ my ass.”

“Tubbo’s just trying to do what is best for L’Manburg, Tech.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll bust Phil out myself if I have to.”

“ _Aha!_ Got it! Turn him on his side so I can apply the potion.”

“Isn’t he supposed to drink it?” Techno asks, holding the torn flesh together beneath his palms.

“Mhm, this is a faster way to get it in his bloodstream. Also, he’s unconscious so he might choke, this is safer.”

Techno nods, seemingly satisfied with that answer, and gently turns Tommy onto his uninjured side. The piglin is careful as he peels back the layer of Tommy’s shirt that had dried against his skin. Tommy whimpers slightly and his eyes fluttered open, hazy and distorted.

“T-Techno?”

“Sorry kid, this is gonna suck,” Techno admits, running a hand gently through his matted hair.

“W-What is?” Tommy slurs, but leans into the touch.

Techno reaches down and grasps one of Tommy’s hands.

“Just squeeze when you feel pain, okay?”

“Mm...kay…” 

Wilbur kneels down beside the boy and begins dabbing a cotton ball soaked with the healing potion against the torn and bloodied flesh.

Tommy reacts almost immediately, his back arching, and Techno winces as his hand was crushed by the grip of the sixteen-year-old.

“I know, bud. I know it hurts. You’re doing well. It won’t be much longer.” Wilbur brushes a hand through his hair. He discards the blood-soaked cotton ball and grabs another, quickly dousing it in the remainder of the potion.

“Last bit. Get ready.” Techno says, preparing himself internally for the death-grip.

Tommy whimpers.

Wilbur nods at Techno before he once again begins cleaning the wound. Tommy screams as the potion burns through him and Techno flinches at his grip.

“And….done! It’s over, Tommy. It’s over.” Wilbur soothes, wiping away the sweat that has perspired against his forehead with a clean cloth.

Tommy’s face is soaked with sweat and he looks at Wilbur with glassy eyes.

“Y-You...You’re...a b-bitch. Y-You...know t-that?” 

Wil chuckles and begins wrapping Tommy’s side with bandages.

“Go to sleep, Tom. You’ll feel better in the morning. Then you can swamp me with your questions, alright?”

“I-I’m...holding y-you… t-to that…” Tommy whispers, his eyelids growing heavy.

“I’ll take first watch, Wilbur,” Technoblade decides, getting up from the floor and grabbing his sword from where he’d previously dumped his gear.

“Okay, I’ll get the fire going again. Then I’ll put Tommy to bed.” Wilbur says, his nervousness had shed, blooming back into the famous optimism his ghostly counterpart had been known for.

“I-I’m...not a b-baby. I…I can g-go to b-bed...myself.” Tommy argues, batting weakly at the hands that were touching him.

“Pff...good luck with that hole in your side. Just let Wilbur help, alright?”

“I...I-I’m...still mad at...y-you, T-Techno. But...t-thanks for….saving m-me.”

“Yeah, whatever. Don’t mention it.” Technoblade brushes him off, clearly uncomfortable with all the emotions the day had brought. He nods at Wilbur before exiting the front door.

Tommy watches with blurry vision as Wilbur gathers the firewood that was stacked neatly next to the fireplace. He then grabs two logs and some kindling and sets them in the hearth before using a flint and steel to light the fire.

Wilbur turns back to Tommy and gently scoops the boy up into his arms. He carries him downstairs to the room Technoblade had made into a guest room (though lately, it had become Wilbur’s room) and carefully tucks the half-conscious kid into his own bed.

Wilbur sits on the floor next to the bed and lets his head rest against the mattress. It wasn’t long before both boys had fallen asleep.

  
  



	2. This is Why Railings are a Good Idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so pleased that you guys liked the first chapter! I don't really have a plan for how long this work will be but I've got a ton of ideas for it! Please enjoy Chapter 2!

_“Come here and watch, Tommy. Come here and_ **_watch.”_ **

_“No, no! I’m so sorry!”_

_“Come to the tent.”_

_“No! No, Dream! Why are you doing this?!”_

_“Tommy, I thought we were friends.”_

_“Wait, no. Not Henry...Dream, please!”_

_“No!”_

_“Tommy, you can’t go to the Nether. No one can come and visit you till you learn to listen.”_

_“Logstedshire...no…”_

_“I exiled you for a reason._ **_Tubbo exiled you for a reason.”_ **

_“You...You were never my friend, were you?”_

Tommy’s eyes shoot open and he swings wildly trying to hit Dream. The man who had taken everything from him. 

“Ow!” A voice cries out and Tommy looks down. Wilbur sits on the floor next to his bed clutching his head from where Tommy knocked him.

“What was that for?!” Wilbur sniffles.

“Oops, my bad.” Tommy apologizes. A sharp pain shoots through Tommy's side and he groans.

“Hmph. Karma.” Wilbur smirks.

“Shut up,” Tommy hisses without any real venom. He takes the time to really look at his brother now that he’s not dying. He still has the beanie and the sweatshirt from his Ghostbur phase but his skin now has a tinge of pink to it, not as much as before but more than it was as a ghost. He’s completely solid, no longer transparent. Now that he can see closer his eyes are actually brighter than they were before but still are hazy. 

To be honest, he looks ill. Tommy feels a wave of grief and guilt that he’d been suppressing crash into him.

“Uhm...Wil? Quick question?”

“Yes, Tommy?” Wilbur answers his eyebrows quirking up.

Suddenly Tommy shoots into his arms, ignoring the pain in his side. He clings to his newly alive brother and asks,

“How the fuck are you alive?!”

Wilbur chuckles and gladly reciprocates the hug. 

“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. Phil and Techno know more about it than I do. Something about totems of undying? I don’t know. But even with that, I’m not entirely alive. My heart is slower than the average human and I think I’m permanently at half health.”

Tommy furrows his brow and asks warily, “And your memories, did they... come back?”

Wilbur shakes his head gleefully, “Nope! I still only have the good memories. Though...I have been having strange dreams lately.”

Tommy untangles himself from Wilbur and sits next to him on the floor.

“Like what?”

“I’m not sure…they’re very vague. Just sporadic moments of a different me. Sometimes I’m being betrayed by a close friend. In others, I’m watching someone die. I never see faces though, but I can feel the emotion I felt at that moment.”

“Oh…” It was all Tommy could say. I mean, how do you respond to that?

_Hey Will, remember when Eret betrayed us? Or when Techno executed Tubbo on Jschlatt’s command? That was pretty fucked up amirite?_

Fuck that.

“How are you feeling, Tommy?” Wilbur asks, effectively changing the subject.

“Cold and sore,” Tommy replies.

Wilbur places a cool hand against Tommy’s forehead and winces at the heat.

“Christ, you’re burning up. You should go back to bed.”

Tommy shakes his head. 

“I’ll be alright. I want to be up right now. Please?” Tommy pleads using his best puppy dog eyes.

Wilbur huffs and rolls his eyes, “Ugh, fine. But if I think even for a moment that it’s too much for you I’m putting your ass back in bed.”

“Whatever you say, Wil,” Tommy says cheerfully.

Tommy quickly gets up from the ground and then immediately buckles back down to the floor, his ankle is refusing weight.

“See?! I told you! You aren’t well!” Wilbur says.

“No, it’s not that. My ankle is busted. I fell pretty bad when I was running from Dre-....from _him_.”

He can’t say his name right now. He just can’t.

“Oh, okay hold on let me go get some things. It’s too early for another healing potion so you’re getting a splint.” Wilbur states then promptly begins climbing up the stairs to the ground floor of Technoblade’s home.

Tommy takes the time to look around at his surroundings. The guest room is small and somewhat unfinished. Stone blocks clash with blue wool and concrete creating a strange patchwork of color. The floor is made of spruce wood and has a nice blue rug placed next to the bed. An ender chest sits in front of the bed that grabs Tommy’s attention.

This time he is much more careful as he crawls to the ender chest and opens it. He sighs in relief, all his valuables were still there. His remaining discs, a few diamonds, two stacks of ender pearls, and a handful of pictures he’d been able to salvage from the wreckage of Logstedshire.

Tommy grabs one of the pictures, randomly. He isn’t sure which ones he had saved since he had just picked up whatever he could during the destruction of Logstedshire. He flips the singed picture to reveal one of Tubbo, his hair tied up into two awful pigtails and his makeup done poorly. He giggles at the cringe-worthy photo and then places it back gently in the chest.

That one is for blackmail later.

_Oh, come on._

_Why that one?_

“Not my fault you look like an idiot in it,” Tommy mumbles to the compass.

_Fuck you, dude._

The compass is silent for a moment and Tommy could feel the irritation radiating from it. Slowly it melts away into concern and then chimes again.

_How...How are you feeling?_

Tommy’s head aches from the use of the compass. He could never talk to Tubbo through it for very long before a migraine sprang up. Normally they only used it for emergencies. 

“Like, shit. But I’ll be alright.”

_Alright. Just keep me updated, okay?_

“Sure thing, Tubs,” Tommy smiles fondly.

“Tubs?” A voice echoes from the ground floor and Tommy froze. He shoves his compass back down his shirt and climbs back onto the bed, ignoring the protest of his aching limbs. Wilbur ducks his head below the trapdoor to peer down at Tommy.

“Who were you talking to?” Wilbur asks, his eyebrow quirking up with the question.

“No one!” Tommy’s voice cracks high as he lied. Wilbur gives a skeptical look before finally shrugging. There is some shuffling for a moment and Tommy watches as Wil swings his body through the trapdoor and lands on his feet, completely disregarding the stairs.

Tommy giggles as Wilbur winces at the harsh impact and grabs his injured heel.

“Oi, dumbass! You’re not a ghost anymore, remember?” 

Wilbur turns to glare at him, sticking his tongue out at him for good measure. 

“I’ve noticed,” Wilbur huffs and then moves to set his supplies on the bed. Thankfully since Tommy’s left shoe was long gone he didn’t have to worry about removing it. Wilbur gently grabs his foot and sets it in his lap.

He rolls up the remains of Tommy’s pant leg and winces as he takes in the sight of his ankle. Tommy peers down and has to swallow down the bile that lurches in his throat. The ankle is swollen horribly and bent at an awkward angle. Patches of violent purple and blue were splashed across both his ankle and foot.

Wilbur presses down gently on a particularly swollen spot and Tommy has to bite his tongue to hold back his scream. Wilbur whistles through his teeth,

“Oh yeah, definitely broken. How the hell were you walking on this foot?”

Tommy snorts weakly, “Adrenaline at first...and then sheer will power!” Wilbur raises an eyebrow in doubt, “...and potions of resistance.”

“Where’d you get potions of resistance?”

“Swiped them from Technoblade’s pockets when he wasn’t looking last night.”

Wilbur chuckled, “How would you had time to drink them if you were with me the whole night?”

“So...where’s Phil?” Tommy asks, dodging the question.

Wilbur graciously allows it to drop, “I’ll tell you in a second, but first I need to set your ankle.”

Tommy swallows, fear sliding up his spine and he backs up involuntarily. Tommy’s breathing picks up quickly as he grows more and more distressed. He knew he was being childish but he couldn’t help it. He’d been through so much pain recently and he really didn’t want to feel anymore. So Tommy panics.

“Easy, buddy. Deep breaths, Tommy. Look at me! Tommy!” Tommy’s eyes snap to his and he felt himself exhale a shaky breath. Wilbur reaches into his pocket and places something into his palm.

Tommy looks down to find that Will had smeared blue dye on his hand. Wilbur takes that hand in his own and holds it tight.

“Look at the blue, Tommy. Put your sadness and fear in it. And then let me take it from you. Hold tight, little brother. Hold onto the blue and focus on it.”

Tommy nods and takes a deep breath, he focuses intensely on his blue-stained palm. He saw how the dye grew darker as it gathered in the creases of his hand. With his other hand, he draws swirls of the beautifully melancholic color on his wrist and down his forearm. He lets the color mesmerize him.

Meanwhile, Wilbur works quickly. He takes the swollen and broken appendage and slowly shifts it back into its proper place. Wil notices that Tommy tenses but doesn’t scream, too consumed by the colors that paint his palm. He grabs the two sticks off the bed and places them on either side of the ankle. With one hand he holds them both in place and grabs the bandages. He works quickly but carefully as he wraps the bandages around the splint, effectively securing the splint in place.

Once he is finished he notices that Tommy is still intently focused on his palm. A sad look glazes over his eyes and he seems far away, lost in his thoughts. Wilbur grabs his hand and soaks a washcloth in the washbasin next to him. He begins gently scrubbing away at the dye that stained his palm, watching as the color faded away until it was gone.

“See? No more pain and no more sadness. I’ve taken it away. It’s all gone now.” Wilbur says gently.

Tommy looks up at him and whispers brokenly, “What if it comes back?”

Wil smiles, “Then I’ll give you more blue! I’ll give you as much blue as you need and as many times as you need it until you don’t need to anymore. Whether that takes a few months or forever, I’ll never stop. I’ll always be here to wipe the blue away.”

Emotion clogs Tommy’s throat and he takes a moment to wipe away the tears that prickle at the edges of his eyes. Wilbur merely sits and waits, a soft smile gracing his features.

“Thanks, Wil,” Tommy says finally, his cheeks dimpled as he smiles.

Wilbur runs a hand through his dirty and greasy hair, “Any time, little brother.”

There is a brief moment of comfortable silence before Wilbur suddenly yawns, “Now either scoot over or head upstairs, I’m exhausted.”

“Didn’t you just sleep?” Tommy questions.

“My body is still getting used to...you know, _life._ So I’ve needed to sleep a lot more lately. Also, the floor is a terrible place to snooze so I’m stealing back my bed.” Wilbur explains and climbs under the blue quilt.

“Why don’t you go see if Techno is up? Maybe he can help you fix up your clothes.”

Tommy nods but then asks, “Where is he?”

“He’s either in his room upstairs or outside on the porch. My old jacket is on the coat rack if you need it. It’s quite cold outside.” Wilbur yawned again and blinked sleepily at him.

“Alright, get some shut-eye. I’ll come to bug you in a few hours.” Tommy promises.

“You wake me and I’ll shave you bald in your sleep, you gremlin.” Wilbur narrows his glare.

“No promises~” Tommy winks.

Wilbur rolls his eyes then turns in the bed so his back is facing him, within a few minutes his brother was snoring softly. Tommy chuckles quietly to himself then uses the bed to shift into a standing position. He attempts to put weight on the splint and is able to carefully limp over to the stairs. He decides to crawl up them rather than risk tumbling down the stairs and cracking his skull open.

It takes a few minutes of careful shuffling and awkward crawling before he finally makes it up to the ground floor. He uses the nearby chest to hoist himself on his feet. Then he carefully slides by the zombie villagers trapped in their boats to the coat rack by the door. 

He freezes when he saw his brother’s old coat. It looks exactly as it had the last time he’d seen his brother wear it, which had been on the day of his death. If he squints he could still see the faded blood that had still not entirely been washed out. He also notices places in the coat where it had been stitched and patched by a steady hand. 

Tommy stares at the coat for another moment before shrugging it on. He can still smell the ash and blood, and the memories that went with it.

**_You’ll never be president, Tommy._ **

**_Who would elect someone so weak?_ **

**_You’re better off under my command, little brother._ **

He’d hated his brother for those words. Those words that had belittled and demoralized him, just as Dream had. Tommy shakes his head, jolting him out of his thoughts.

He didn’t harbor any anger for Wilbur anymore, at least not for what he’d done in his past life. But he swore that he’d never allow himself to be underneath anyone’s thumb ever again.

Still, the coat was warm enough, so Tommy pushes the thoughts out of his mind and opens the front door. Tommy takes a deep breath as he steps out into the snow, cold air whistles down his nostrils and into his lungs. It was invigorating. 

Turning to his right he spots his older brother in Carl’s pen. His long pink hair is tied up into a messy bun, instead of his normal braid. He wasn’t wearing his normal retirement uniform, rather he is garbed in a simple white button-up and jeans. Of course, given the weather, he had his old red robe draping around his shoulders along with a pair of snow boots. 

He looked peaceful as he gently combed through Carl’s mane. He seemed less tense, the normal furrow in his brow had relaxed and his eyes had softened for his beloved steed.

For once in his life, Tommy decides not to interrupt. Instead, he chooses to sit on the fence and watch Techno care for his horse. And yes, Technoblade knew he had an audience, but he chose to continue in his task. 

It was a rare moment between the two. Neither one aggravating or attacking the other. Instead, they opted for comfortable silence and just enjoying each other’s presence.

It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that Technoblade finally spoke, startling Tommy from his light doze.

“You scared the hell out of me. You know that?”

“I thought you didn’t get scared? I thought you were all tough an’ shit.” Tommy teases, not really wanting to get into another serious conversation.

“Just because I’m tough doesn’t mean I don’t get scared,” Technoblade huffs. “What did you do to piss him off like that?”

**_Tommy? What’s this? Have you been hiding things from me?_ **

**_Answer me._ **

“Does it matter?” Tommy’s voice cracks.

Technoblade turns to face Tommy and stares at him for a long moment before sighing, “I suppose not.”

“Still, he knows where we live now, or at least the general area. It won’t be long before he returns.”

“Where _we_ live?” Tommy asks, confused by the implications of the statement.

Technoblade gives him one of his rare small smiles, “Well I’m not just gonna let you live like a raccoon in my basement as I?”

“Maybe in another life, because that would’ve been an amazing idea.” Tommy sputters, still astonished at what Techno was saying.

“We’ll either add onto the guest room or maybe make Wilbur his own house. Besides he was talking the other day about having his own sheep farm so why not?”

“Wait...you’re serious? You’re actually going to let me stay? I mean c’mon! I’m Tommy! I’m the definition of an inconvenience!” Tommy doesn’t know why he feels the need to remind Techno of these things but it just seems like Technoblade had forgotten how terrible Tommy was.

“Hmph, I remember telling Philza something similar the day he brought me and Will home. You may be an inconvenience, Tommy. But we’re family so you’re my inconvenience.” Techno says, his voice wavering slightly. He coughs and continues grooming Carl, even though his mane was already flawless.

“I don’t know whether to feel touched or offended,” Tommy teases.

Technoblade shrugs, and there was silence for a few minutes before Tommy asks.

“I asked Wilbur this earlier but then he forgot to answer it…where is Phil?”

Techno sighs and places the brush back onto the nearby shelf. He wipes his hands on a clean rag that sat nearby then leans against one of the banisters.

“He’s under house arrest,” Techno says bluntly and Tommy gaped.

Why? What did he do wrong?

Tommy repeats his internal monologue out loud for Techno who shrugs.

“Apparently Tubbo felt it was the only way to keep him safe from Dream.” 

“What do you mean by ‘safe from Dream’, he was only ever after me?” Tommy asks.

“That was true, at least until Philza got in touch with Drista.” Techno replies.

“What does Drista have to do with this?” 

“Phil was worried. Apparently, Tubbo had gone to Logstedshire and found it in ruins, he at first thought you dead. But then he felt your heart beating through the compass. Tubbo told Philza what he’d seen and then Phil somehow got in touch with Drista. She said that Dream was currently hunting you down and intended on killing you. Drista didn’t want you dead so she told Phil where you were,” Techno inhales, winded from talking. He takes a deep breath before he continues.

“When Dream discovered that Drista snitched, instead of blaming his sister he told her that Philza was next. Why he’d give away his plans like that is beyond me. So obviously, Drista informed Tubbo of Dream’s plan so now he’s got Quackity and Fundy guarding Phil at all times.”

“Oh...shit. But wait, why does Tubbo care about what happens to Phil?”

“My guess... _you._ Phil inadvertently saved your life and I suppose Tubbo feels that he owes him. It doesn’t matter, I’ll bust Philza out of there myself. As long as Dream knows where he is, Phil isn’t safe.”

“When are you leaving?” Tommy asks.

“Tonight if possible. The sooner we free him, the better.”

“Can I go?” Tommy blurts out without thinking.

Techno turns to him, “No.”

“W-Why not?! You know that I’m strong! I want to go save Phil! C’mon Techno, please!”

“You’re injured. You wouldn’t make it five miles on that foot. And you’re also feverish.”

“I am not!” Tommy whines.

“Your lips are cracked and your face is flushed. You’re too ill, Tommy. You’re not going.”

“That’s rubbish. I’m fine.” Tommy grumbles.

“Prove it,” Techno says, standing up from the banister. He pulls out his sword and hands it to Tommy.

“You have five minutes to tag me with this. If you can do it? Then you can come with me. If you can’t, then you can’t argue about it anymore.”

Tommy’s face went blank as he speaks flatly, “You know damn well that I can’t tag you even when I’m healthy.”

Technoblade chuckles, “So you give up then?”

Tommy flips the dagger in his hand and then smirks, “ _Hell, no_.”

Technoblade smiles and moves out into the snow. Tommy limps quickly after him but then turns and downs a potion of resistance while the piglin

wasn’t looking.

“Alright, you have five minutes to tag me. Are you ready?”

“I was born ready!”

—————————————————————

Even with the potion of resistance flowing through him, Tommy fails to tag Techno in time. He’d nearly had him at the end and almost was able to touch his robe with the sword. But gravity had other ideas and Tommy had slipped and ended up face-first in the snow.

Techno laughs and calls the time. Tommy screams into the snow in disappointment and frustration. His head throbs as he gets back onto his feet.

“Don’t feel too bad, Tom. Even Phil can’t catch me.”

“Then why the hell did you let me try?!” Tommy rages and throws the sword into the snow.

“To prove a point...and also to tire you out.”

“You’re an arse, you know that?”

Technoblade chuckles softly and picks his sword up from the snow. He motions for Tommy to follow him inside, which he did begrudgingly 

Tommy wipes the snow from Wilbur’s jacket before hanging it back up on the rack. He watches with curiosity as Technoblade rummages through his chest for a moment before pulling out a pair of grey sweats that were way too big for Tommy and a white t-shirt. 

“Go upstairs and change into these. They’re a bit big on you but it’s all we’ve got for now. I’ll start working to fix your clothes when I get home. Just leave them on the dresser next to the bed, alright?”

“Are you leaving now?” Tommy whines and Techno nods in response.

“Relax, Tommy. By the time you wake up, Phil will be in the kitchen making all of us waffles. Just try to sleep off that fever okay?”

Tommy groans but nods. He grabs the clothes, harsher than he’d meant to, and begins crawling upstairs. He could hear Technoblade laugh at the sight and Tommy flips him off.

As soon as he makes it to the top floor, Tommy presses his ear against the wooden planks and listens. He hears the door close and the sound of Carl whinnying as Technoblade rides off into the snow. 

Tommy rolls onto his back and sighs. 

“I could’ve helped.”

**_All you would’ve done is mess things up._ **

As much as he hates the voice in his head, he can’t help but agree with it. Messing things up was Tommy’s one talent after all.

Tommy shakes the voice away and quickly changes into the clothes Technoblade had given him. He was right, they were way too big. Tommy grabs some string from the chest nearby and secures the pants to his waist. He tucks the shirt into his pants as well so it didn’t seem like the shirt was swallowing the boy whole.

He sits on the bed and unlaces his remaining shoe and then grabs what remains of his old clothing. He gently places them on the dresser and crawls into bed.

It takes him about two seconds to realize he isn’t going to fall asleep. 

Tommy groans in frustration and shoves the covers off harshly. His head throbs once again and Tommy winces. His side was aching as well, sending a sting of pain through him with every heart-beat.

_This fucking sucks._

The headache is getting worse and Tommy feels like his brain is on fire. He sits up and he pulls his shirt up, tearing away the bandage that was plastered against his side. He hisses at the pain and looks down at the wound.

It was ugly. The torn skin had clotted over partially and the sudden ripping away of the bandage had caused the skin to open up once more. Tommy holds the bandage at an angle against the wound and tries to soak up the blood that was running freely once more. The wound is red and angry and Tommy didn’t need a diploma to know it was infected. Heat was radiating from it and just the sight of it made Tommy feel faint. 

He carefully secures the bandage back in place and tucks his shirt into his pants once more. As much as he hates to admit it, Technoblade had been right. He wouldn’t have made it five miles with his injuries.

Tommy slides to the floor and placed his aching head into his hands. He feels like he could cry. He probably would be crying in a few minutes. Part of him wants to go get Wilbur and tell him what was going on. 

But he didn’t want to feel like an inconvenience, so he stays put. Tommy’s vision begins to swim and his stomach churns. Things had gone from bad to worse so blindingly fast it was nauseating.

He really should go get Wil. Tommy tries to crawl towards the stairs but suddenly it feels as if all his energy has been drained away.

_What the hell is happening? I felt fine a few minutes ago? What’s going on?_

“W-Wil!” Tommy croaked, his voice muted and faint. 

Suddenly he realizes why he felt awful all of a sudden. The potion of resistances he’d been chugging since waking were finally wearing off, leaving a sickly boy in its wake. He'd known it had been a bad idea to have so many but they staved off feeling like shit so he’d downed them without thinking. 

Now he is paying for it.

If he could just make it down the stairs he could tell Wil what is happening and everything would be better. So Tommy uses his remaining strength and begins slowly crawling toward the staircase. He makes it to the top step and shifts himself into a sitting position, he then begins carefully sliding down each step. Tommy makes it about halfway down before his vision swims and he begins swaying. The last thing he remembers, is falling sideways off the staircase and the ground speeding towards him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rip Tommy's skull


	3. Blood is Thicker than Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how we doin after the january 5 & 6th streams y'all?
> 
> they legit just said fuck you to sbi
> 
> JOKES ON YOU SBI NEVER DIES BABY

_Crash!_

Wilbur shoots up at the sound of something hitting the floor. He quickly rises from the bed and tumbles from it, nearly tripping on the washbasin he’d forgotten to put away. Wil makes his way up the stairs and opens the trap doors. 

It only takes a second to see what had fallen down.

Tommy is curled up at the base of the stairs, completely unconscious. His arms are curled protectively around his skull which makes Will sigh internally with relief. At least he hadn’t cracked his skull on impact.

“Tommy!” He cries and quickly rushes to the boy’s side. Wilbur loops his arms underneath his shoulders and pulls Tommy into his lap. The boy whines at the touch but doesn't wake.

Wilbur combs his fingers through Tommy’s hair, searching for any signs of bleeding. Thankfully he finds none. He presses a palm to Tommy’s forehead and recoils back at the heat that radiates from the teen. He is _burning_ up.

Wilbur hoists Tommy into his arms and carefully makes his way downstairs. He gently places the sickly boy onto his bed. He opts for no covers since Tommy’s body temperature is hot enough to cook an egg upon.

Wilbur dumps the old water out of the basin into the cauldron and then rushes upstairs and outside. He notices instantly that Carl is gone.

_Godammit, Technoblade._

He’d gone to rescue Philza without telling him. He'd put them all in danger without even consulting him! What if Dream showed up? There is _no way_ that Wilbur can hide Tommy in the state he's in! And he knows for certain that he wouldn’t win in a fight against Dream.

Wilbur punches the banister next to him in rage, wincing as he feels the skin of his knuckles break.

_If Dream doesn’t kill him, then I will._

Wilbur places the basin onto the snow and pulls his tablet magically from his sleeve. He types an angry message to Techno before shoving the tablet back, not bothering to watch it disappear back into his inventory space. 

**WilburSoot whispers to Technoblade:** **_im gonna knock your block off, you left us alone, you arse._**

He takes a long moment to calm himself down, he could feel his teeth grind painfully in his mouth. He grabs the basin that he’d tossed and begins filling it up with snow while he waits for a response. He’d just finished when his tablet chimed.

**Technoblade whispers to WilburSoot:** **_You’ll be fine. Tommy’s strong enough to defend you and they’re invisibility potions in one of the chests in case someone stops by._ **

Wilbur feels like he could scream. He can’t believe that Techno thinks it is a good idea to give their sickly injured brother a sword and call it a day.

**WilburSoot whispers to Technoblade:** **_are you mad? He’s a child first off. Second off, he just passed out and fell 10ft off the staircase._**

**Technoblade whispers to WilburSoot:** **_shit_**

**Technoblade whispers to WilburSoot:** **_Also that’s very hypocritical coming from the man that let Tommy be his VP and general._**

_Touché,_ Wilbur admits bitterly.

**Technoblade whispers to WilburSoot:** **_Ill be home in a few hours. I’m almost at L’Manburg. Phil will be able to help Tommy. Just trust me and don’t forget about the invis pots_**

Wilbur chose not to respond, still angry at Technoblade for leaving in the first place. He shoves the tablet back into his sleeve and went back into the house. On the way downstairs, he grabs two invisibility potions from one of the chests along with a diamond axe.

He lifts up the trap doors and heads downstairs. Tommy was curled up in the corner of the bed and Wilbur can’t help but worry over how tiny he looks. Even with the baggy t-shirt hiding his prominent ribs, Wil notices how hollowed his face seems. His eyes were slightly sunken in and he could see the rivets off his spine through the shirt.

As mad as he is at Techno, he's glad Philza is coming home. He knows that their father will get proper meals into Tommy with ease.

With that thought, Wilbur begins working to bring Tommy’s body temperature down. He grabs two dishrags and places one on his lap. He neatly packs snow into the rag then folds it up neatly. He uses the second rag to secure the snow in place. He then gently places the makeshift icepack onto Tommy’s forehead. He watches as the boy practically sighs at the coolness of the pack before stilling once more.

Wilbur groans, he honestly has no idea what he's supposed to be doing. His knowledge of medicine only goes so far. Phil had always been better at healing people than him. 

Wil grabs the chair next to the desk in the room and moves it next to Tommy’s bedside. He plops down in it with a sigh.

_I hope to the gods that Technoblade is doing better than I am._

————————————————————-

_This is a_ **_bad_ ** _idea._

Technoblade thought to himself. He is standing just outside of the plaza of L’manburg. Of course, he has an invisible potion keeping him out of sight, but it still didn’t alleviate the feeling of vulnerability plaguing him. 

Stealth isn’t really Technoblade’s forte, after all, stabbin' is way more fun.

**_The fox would look better with a knife in his neck, don’t you think, Blade?_ **

**_As would Quackity..._**

**_Technostab. Technokill. Technostab._ **

_Shut up! I’m not here to stab anyone._

**_I’m just saying...it would be easier to get Phil if Tubbo’s goons were both on the floor bleeding out of their eyes._ **

_Speaking of Mr. President himself…_

Technoblade moves closer as he watches Tubbo walk towards Fundy and Quackity, a clipboard is clutched in his hand and Ranboo is trailing not too far behind.

Something small and shiny around Tubbo’s neck catches Technoblade’s eye as he watches Tubbo talk with Quackity and Fundy. He can’t quite place where he’s seen it before. Technoblade moves closer towards Philza’s homestead to get a better view of the object.

It’s just dawned on him that it’s was a compass just like Tommy’s when his invisibility potion wears off.

_Shit._

Multiple things happen at once. Tubbo is shoved to the ground by Ranboo while Fundy and Quackity both draw their own blades towards Technoblade. The two leap in front of the President and from the corner of his eye, Technoblade saw Philza peering at him from his window.

Technoblade instantly raises his hands in the air, showing that he was free of weaponry at the moment.

“Stand back, Technoblade!” Fundy snarls at him, his teeth bared defensively.

Technoblade complies with the anthropomorphic fox and takes a tentative step back, “Stand down guys, I’m not here to fight you.”

“Then what are you here for, exactly?”

Technoblade drops his hands and points one of them at Philza, who is now standing at the threshold of his door, his ankle monitor beeps cautiously as he draws closer to the outside.

“ _Him._ ”

Quackity and Fundy burst into bitter laughter at the answer but Technoblade spots Tubbo, who was slowly getting up from the ground, quirk an eyebrow at him.

Suddenly Quackity turns and marches towards Philza’s front door. Philza yelps painfully as Quackity grabs the collar of his shirt and pull him outside. Philza's ankle monitor begins beeping loudly and Technoblade watches in horror as Phil cries out as waves of electricity began to shoot up his leg.

Quackity snarls and pulls Philza against him, brandishing his dagger against his throat.

“Quackity! No!” Tubbo cries out and grabs the remote from his pocket. He quickly turns off one of the buttons and Technoblade watches as Phil slumps against Quackity, his eyes glassy and unfocused.

Technoblade roars in anger and quickly pulls out the _Rocket Launcher_ from his inventory and aims it in between Quackity’s eyes.

**_Shoot him! Stab him! Kill him!_** The voices roar in a horrible cacophony of rage. And for a brief fleeting moment he almost listens, but the fear in Tubbo’s bright blue eyes, ones that remind him so much of Tommy’s, bring him back.

“Let him go, Quackity! He has nothing to do with your hatred for me! Put him down!” Technoblade hisses.

“You shot Tubbo, you prick! The most wholesome person in this goddamn world! You spawned Withers all over L'manburg! You’re a monster!”

“Yes! I’m a monster! But Phil is a good person, so let him go!” Technoblade argues, his finger just slightly twitching against the trigger.

Tubbo’s eyes widen at the movement and suddenly he shoves Ranboo off him and tries to run in front of Quackity. Unfortunately, Fundy catches the boy and holds him tight in his arms. Tubbo thrashes against Fundy’s hold and screams,

“W-Wait! Wait! Technoblade stop! Don’t shoot, please! Quackity let Philza go, _now!_ ” 

Quackity shakes his head and Technoblade curses as streaks of blood began trickling down Philza’s neck. Philza begins to stir back to consciousness and Technoblade watches as he suddenly realizes that there was a knife slowly cutting into his throat. His eyes flash to Technoblade and he could see his fear.

_No...No...NO!!!_

Suddenly, Technoblade drops his _Rocket Launcher_ and falls to his knees. His hands raise into the air once again and he did the one thing he swore never to do. But it was Philza’s life on the line so _fuck_ it. Technoblade begs.

“Let him go! Quackity, please! Philza needs to get home, _now_! Take me instead! Just let Phil go!” 

“Quackity, listen to him! As your President, _I order you to release Philza and take Technoblade instead._ ” Tubbo demands.

Quackity sighs and shoves Philza forward, who promptly crumples to the ground. Technoblade watches as Fundy suddenly yelps when Tubbo stomps his foot. The boy manages to scramble from Fundy’s grasp and rushes to Philza’s side. He places a hand on his back as Phil began emptying the contents of his stomach onto the grass.

Quackity and Fundy both look at one another in disgust, while Tubbo simply looks concerned and rubs the man’s back in a soothing motion. Once Philza had finished, Tubbo wraps his arm around his own shoulder and helps the man to his feet. He glares at his two right-hand men who in response, pale at the sudden seriousness from their President.

“Fundy, cuff Technoblade and find a chest for him to deposit his items. If you really want to punish Technoblade for his crimes then we’re going to do it _my way._ ” Tubbo says firmly, to which Fundy nods then disappears into one of the buildings.

“N-no…” Philza murmurs and Technoblade saw Tubbo whisper something to him. Tubbo then turns to Technoblade and says,

“I promise you that I will release Phil but first I must tend to his injuries, okay?” Technoblade nods at Tubbo who then continued,

“You will receive a _fair_ trial for your actions against me if that is what Fundy and Quackity wish. I personally hold no malice towards you, but I cannot say the same for my comrades.”

At that, Technoblade winces, suddenly grateful for the fact he’d brought a Totem of Undying with him.

Fundy returns moments later with a pair of handcuffs made from obsidian and a chest.

“No, place an ender chest. As far as I’m concerned he’s innocent of all crimes until proven guilty.”

“Tubbo he literally shot you in front of all of us. How would he not be guilty?!” Fundy refuses.

“Technoblade has stated before that he had been pressured into shooting me by Jschlatt. Is that correct, Mr. Blade?” Tubbo asks.

Technoblade nods, completely dumbfounded, and slightly touched that Tubbo was _actually trying_ to defend him.

Fundy grumbles a moment before placing an ender chest down. Technoblade eagerly deposits all his valuables, glad he won’t have to worry about losing any of his hard-earned armor and weaponry. He keeps both his compass and totem of undying on him, however.

He wasn’t an idiot, of course, this could all be a ruse to lure Technoblade into trusting the seemingly kindhearted boy. Tubbo hadn’t ended up President for being caring towards others, there had to be some corruption in him. He was a politician after all.

Once he’d finished throwing his items into the chest, Fundy cuffs the piglin’s hands behind his back and asks Tubbo, “Where should I take him, Mr. President?”

“Take him to the Courthouse and keep watch over him. Quackity, go with him as well and _behave_.” Quackity scoffs at that but nods nonetheless. 

“Ranboo can you help me carry Phil back to my house?” Tubbo asks.

“Of course!” Ranboo says and wraps Phil’s other arm over his shoulder.

Tubbo turns to Technoblade and says, “I'll be at the courthouse as soon as I can get Phil situated. Please don’t break out, alright? There are certain things I need to ask you about.”

“He’s not gonna break out, Tubbo. There are two of us watching him.” Quackity says confidently.

“Technoblade could kill all four of us with one hand, Quack. Don’t be an idiot.” Fundy argues, his tail twitching from behind him.

Quackity mutters something foul under his breath before shoving Technoblade forward. Techno turns briefly to nod at Tubbo before he began slowly walking towards the courthouse.

—————————————————————

_Thump. Thud._

The noises jolt Wilbur from his light doze. He briefly thinks for a moment that Techno was home before another crash from upstairs sends waves of doubt up through his spine. He scrambles from his chair to the staircase and quickly checks the lock on the trapdoor before Wil presses his ear against the wall and listens. 

Loud footsteps echo from the top level and Wilbur can hear the sounds of someone rummaging around Technoblade’s room. He gasps as the steps march down from the attic to the main floor. The footsteps are harsh and violent and definitely do not belong to either Philza or Technoblade. 

_Oh, shit._

Wilbur nearly falls off the staircase in his panic but does his best to be quiet as he quickly extinguishes every torch save for the one closest to the bed. He then lifts Tommy into his arms and gently shoves him underneath the bed, the boy whines softly and shifts a bit before falling back into his slumber once more. Wil grabs both invisibility potions and extinguishes the remaining torch before also crawling under the bed. 

The footsteps loudly stomp down the stairs onto the ground floor (first basement) and continue down the second basement. They grow closer and closer until Wilbur hears the intruder violently shake the lock that holds the trapdoor closed. Wilbur has to bite his tongue to hold back the cry of fear that jolts in his throat. He quickly applies one of the invisibility potions on both of them. Wil shifts his body so that Tommy is curled up near the wall and he has his back pressed against him. Even though they are both cloaked with invisibility he wouldn’t risk whoever is up there spotting his younger brother. He grabs the axe from the top of the bed just as the intruder snaps the lock.

The trapdoor swings open and Wilbur holds his breath as Dream descends down the stairs.

—————————————————————

“Alright set him down gently, um...right here.” Tubbo's shoulder aches as he gently sets the older man on the bed. Ranboo props up a few pillows before laying the man back on the bed. Tubbo notices he also rolled his shoulder which was now free of the weight.

It wasn’t that Phil is heavy, it's just that they both light, though Ranboo towers above both of them. Ranboo makes quick work of taking off both Phil’s ankle monitor along with his boot. He winces as he rolls up Phil’s pant leg. His veins had been shot to hell due to the shock from the monitor. Tubbo could see the veins through his leg, all red and swollen, and they gave off the appearance of lightning bolts riding up his leg. Tubbo feels a wave of guilt swell up in his chest. This is all his fault, he knew he should never have let Quackity talk him into it.

“Um, Tubbo?” Ranboo asks, raising his head up to look at him. “How do we fix this?”

Tubbo hesitates for a moment, trying to recall everything he knows about treating electrical burns. He knows you weren’t supposed to put ice on it, but perhaps a cool cloth could help soothe the burn? Yes, that sounds right. A cool cloth, some aloe vera, and then bandage it to reduce irritation.

“Grab me some ice water and a rag. I need to go crush up some aloe vera.” Tubbo says firmly. Ranboo nods then leaves the room.

“T-Tubbo?” A voice croaks from across the room just as Tubbo was fetching his mortar and pestle. Tubbo looks up from his work to see Phil blinking at him, a confused expression across his face.

“Phil! You’re awake! How are you feeling?” Tubbo smiles, but it did not reach his eyes.

“M-my...My leg is...b-burning. W-where's Techno?” Phil mumbles, his eyes were slowly beginning to focus once again.

“Don’t worry, Techno is fine. I promise I won’t let Quackity and Fundy harm him. I’ve got stuff for your leg, just give me a moment to prepare it.”

“Pfff...a-as if...they could h-hurt him.” Philza chuckled. Tubbo notices that the cut on his neck is still bleeding from earlier, so Tubbo reaches into one of the chests and grabs a wad of bandages.

“Can I put these on?” Tubbo asks tentatively, letting the bandage unroll in his hands.

“A-As long as you don’t s-strangle me,” Philza says, sarcasm lacing his voice.

Tubbo chuckles then begins carefully wrapping the bandage around his neck, not too tightly but tight enough to be able to clot the bleeding. He uses a piece of medical tape to secure the bandage when Ranboo walks back in with a basin and rag.

“I think Ranboo has got you from here, I need to go check on Technoblade. Ranboo, let the rag rest on his leg for about fifteen minutes before you apply the aloe vera, then wrap it up tightly with a bandage, alright?”

“Sounds good.” Ranboo smiles, his heterochromatic eyes gleaming.

“I’ll be back soon, okay? I’ll make a sack of the vera for you to take with you, okay?”

“Thank you, Tubbo. S-Seriously...I-I mean t-that.” Philza says, a small smile forming.

Tubbo blushes and runs his hand against the back of his neck, “No p-problem.”

Tubbo nods at Ranboo before leaving the room. It's a short walk over to the courthouse, they had built it closer to the plaza since the last time they’d used it. Comfier cells had been added by request.

He enters the building and immediately notices that Fundy and Quackity are bickering amongst themselves, while Technoblade had a look of panic on his expression.

“Mr. President!” Both Fundy and Quackity chime together, they move in sync as they stood in front of him.

“Will you both excuse Technoblade and me for a moment? I need to speak privately with him.”

They both stare at Tubbo with looks of shock and denial, it's Fundy who stutters first, “A-Alone, Tubbo?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, sir,” Quackity follows.

Tubbo huffs in irritation, he knows they mean well but sometimes they both forget that Tubbo is perfectly capable of defending himself when necessary.

“You may stand guard outside if you feel it’s necessary, but yes, _alone_ ,” Tubbo emphasizes, he brushes past the two and walks over to Techno’s cell. He was standing next to the bars, holding them tight in his hands. His brow furrowing in frustration.

“Very well,” Quackity sighs, “Come on, Fundy.”

He waits until the giant oaken door shut behind him before he speaks, “Philza is fine, okay?”

“It’s not Phil I’m worried about,” Technoblade replies, his response spreads unease throughout Tubbo. He swallows and then replies,

“What do you mean? Who are you worried about then?”

“Dream messaged me a moment ago,” Techno admits.

“What did he say?”

Techno pales as he replies, “He said, ‘ _Poor little Theseus, his clothes were so bloodied and tattered. I’m sure family life would have suited you, but I’m afraid that dream must be shattered.”_

Tubbo’s eyes went wide, “That’s...ominous and really bad poetry at the same time.”

“Wilbur sent me a message after I’d left to rescue Phil, apparently Tommy’s ill.”

“I-Ill?” Tubbo chokes, he could've sworn that Tommy seemed fine the last time he spoke, how did he suddenly become sick?!

“Listen to me, Tubbo. You need to let me go. If Dream finds Tommy, he will kill him.”

_No. No not Tommy. NO._

“H-How...wha…” Tubbo stammers, “But...Phil! Phil can protect them, right? Look if it were entirely up to me, I’d let you go I swear, but Quackity and Fundy won’t listen to reason.”

“Phil can’t defend all three of them, Tubbo. At least not against Dream, and especially not with his leg.”

“I can’t just let you go, Techno! Not after everything you’ve done to L’Manburg! You blew it up with Withers! Quackity and Fundy will never listen!” Tubbo cries, his hands pull at his hair as he turns away from Techno.

“Tubbo! You’re the fucking _President!_ This is Tommy’s life we are talking about! Find a goddamn way!” Technoblade yells.

He is right. Tubbo hates it, but he's right. He wouldn’t risk Tommy’s life for anything, not even for justice.

“Alright, alright. Give me some time to come up with a plan. I won’t be able to convince Quackity and Fundy so I’ll need to find a way to break you out. I’ll send Philza ahead but I’ll be back tonight to tell you my plan, okay?”

Technoblade sags in relief, his head resting against the bars, “Thank you, Tubbo.”

Tubbo nods and turns to exit the room, he had his hand on the door handle when Technoblade said, 

“And...um...I’m sorry for shooting you, truly I am.”

Tubbo lowers his gaze to the floor, he turns his head slightly and mumbles back, _“I know.”_

Then he pushes open the door and leaves.

By the time he made it back to his house, Philza is already sitting up and chatting cheerfully with Ranboo. It seems the two had similar philosophies when it came to certain topics.

_Neat._

Philza notices Tubbo standing in the doorway and his face drops at Tubbo’s expression.

“What is it, Tubbo?” Phil asks, his stutter from earlier was gone.

“I...I think...I think Tommy and Wilbur are in trouble, Phil.” Tubbo says, his tone grim.

“What? What do you mean?”

“You need to leave, _now_. I think Dream is going to try to kill them. How fast can you fly back?”

Philza’s wings suddenly begin to stir from behind his cloak, then his dark wings began spreading slightly outwards. Philza stands up from the bed, limping heavily, and moves in front of Tubbo.

“If I fly at my top speed I can be there in thirty minutes,” Philza states.

Tubbo grabs the rucksack Ranboo had packed and hands it to him.

“Go now and I’ll make sure Technoblade follows later tonight okay?”

Philza quirks an eyebrow at him in confusion, “I thought you were going to put him on trial?”

Tubbo shakes his head, “Not with Tommy’s life on the line. I won’t risk it. Quackity and Fundy can stuff it.”

The older man smiles and places a hand on the boy’s shoulder, “You’re a good kid, Tubbo. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me today. I won’t forget this and neither will Techno.”

Tubbo smiles and replies, “Please go save my best friend, alright?”

Philza nods and then opens one of the windows. He stands on the threshold and then leaps out. Tubbo and Ranboo both watch in awe as Philza soars in the air until he was out of sight.

Once he was gone, Ranboo turns to Tubbo,

“What do you mean you’re releasing Technoblade?”

Tubbo grabs the taller man’s shoulder and asks nervously, “Can I trust you, Ranboo?”

The enderman hybrid responds almost immediately, “Always.”

“Want to help me bust a pig out of jail?” Tubbo smirks.

“ _A_ _bsolutely.”_

—————————————————————

_Stomp. Stomp. Stomp._

Wilbur shoves a hand over his mouth as Dream slowly descends down the stairs. It is dark but he can faintly make out the white gleam of his ceramic mask, the smile glinting demonically from Dream’s torchlight. 

His hand tightens around the base of the axe as Dream draws near the bed. He pauses briefly in front of it before turning to look around the room.

_Run, you idiot._

_Aether above_ , he wants to. He wants to pick up Tommy and bolt as fast as he can, but he can’t think of a way to do it without alerting Dream.

**_Crash._ **

Wilbur winces as the desk suddenly topples over onto the floor. He begins to panic, it won’t be long until he finds them. He is looking very thoroughly under the furniture and they are underneath _fucking_ furniture.

He needs to either create a distraction or pray that Dream would be loud enough so he can keep Tommy safe, he just doesn’t know what. But there really isn’t time to think. Wil shifts as quietly as he can from under the bed and prays to whatever god exists that Tommy won’t stir.

Dream is poking around the armoire in the corner but suddenly begins stabbing at the inside and doors of the giant dresser, wildly. Wilbur takes this as a good opportunity to hook his arms under Tommy and pull him from under the bed. Thankfully the boy doesn’t stir as he hoists him into his arms. 

Wilbur stands up and backs into one of the corners that Dream had already checked. Tommy’s head lolls briefly before settling into the crook of Wil’s neck. As soon as he stills, Dream turns to the bed. He hears a faint chuckle from the masked man before he shoves his sword through the mattress.

_Gods, that could’ve been my skull, or worse, Tommy's._

Dream kicks the bed in frustration before angrily flipping it over. He kneels down on the ground to check under the bed. Wilbur holds his breath when Dream stands up with a discarded diamond axe gleaming in his hand.

_Fuck._

The man chuckles and says sinisterly, “Oh Wilbur, did you forget something?”

If Wilbur was scared before, then he is terrified now.

Dream starts to wander around the room, double-checking everything. Wilbur paces behind him, mimicking his movements and desperately hoping the man didn’t suddenly turn around.

The awkward dance goes on for long minutes that seemingly stretched out for eternity. Suddenly, Wilbur notices that Dream had left the trapdoor open and while Dream scours the room for the third time. Wil begins slowly climbing up the stairs. With every step, he feels his luck fading and surely enough it did when Tommy suddenly begins stirring.

“W-Wilbur?” Tommy croaks. Dream’s head whips around and Wilbur takes that as his signal to run. He races up the staircase and makes sure to slam the trapdoor shut on Dream who was sprinting after them. He shifts Tommy onto his back, who is conscious enough to hold on tightly to him, and frantically climbs up the ladder. 

And then in a moment of brilliance, Wilbur kicks open the front door, but instead of leaving he quickly dives into a corner. He shoves his hand over Tommy’s mouth, who blinks up at him in terror.

Dream scales up the ladder, took one look at the open door, and ran out into the snow. He knows it won’t be long before Dream realizes he’d been duped, so Wilbur quickly digs into one of the chests, grabbing both a sword and an extra invisibility potion. He then grabs one of Techno’s old coats and douses it in the potion before wrapping it around Tommy’s shoulders and then grabbing the ends to tie around his waist, basically swaddling the teen onto his back.

Wilbur checks to see if the coast was clear before heading out into the snow. At this point, Wil is running on pure adrenaline. He knows it won’t be long until he passes out, but he has to keep it together for Tommy. He has to.

Wil has no idea where he's running to, but he knows he needs to get Tommy far away from Dream. L’manburg is too far, he’d never make it while holding Tommy on his back. And the Nether is definitely not an option, far too dangerous.

Wilbur suddenly stops running. This place is far too remote and way too cold to survive out here for long, especially in the middle of the night. He didn’t have many options. 

He would have to go back, otherwise, they’d both freeze to death. Already, Wilbur can hear Tommy’s teeth starting to chatter, so it wouldn’t be long until the cold had settled into the teen. Tommy is far too sickly to last long and Wil isn’t exactly the warmest person.

So what the fuck is he supposed to do?

“W-Wil?” Tommy says, his voice faint and weak. “W-Why’d you s-stop?”

_What the fuck am I supposed to do?_

Wilbur could feel his adrenaline fading, the man takes two shaky steps forward before falling to his knees.

“Wilbur!” Tommy cries, his hands digging into the man’s shoulders as he clings to him.

He didn’t hear him. His mind is blank. It's too much. He's so scared of losing Tommy and losing his home. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to _do._

_If I go back, we die. If we stay here, we die._

_I can’t do this by myself._

Suddenly a hand slaps him across the face. Wilbur blinks and looks up to see Tommy looking dazed and concerned. He is fighting hard to keep himself awake. His side is bleeding again.

“W-Wil! Snap out of i-it! What’s t-the plan?” Tommy yells.

Wilbur stares at him and then shakes his head, “I don’t have one.”

Tommy’s eyes widen and he begins tugging at his hand, trying to force him to stand. Wilbur complies and got to his feet. His movements are slow and robotic.

“C’mon...w-we need to g-go! Dream c-could come back!” Tommy cries, gently pulling the older boy along while his other hand held tight at his side.

They make it into the treeline when Tommy’s energy begins to dwindle. His legs are shaking violently and the boy looks to be on the brink of passing out.

_Snap out of it!_

Wilbur then slaps himself, hard. Tommy looks at him in shock but doesn’t protest when Wil once again hoists the boy onto his back.

They both are _beyond_ exhausted and have no plan except to keep moving forward. For as long as they could, they can’t just give up. Wilbur ignores the exhaustion of his joints and keeps walking and walking. He's vaguely aware that their invisibility potion had worn off, but the mobs have no trouble spotting it. 

Suddenly, two zombies appear from the trees and spot the two. Wilbur gasps and turns to run in the opposite direction. But the cold and the stress had depleted him of his stamina and he could barely walk at this point. The zombies are gaining on the boys, guttural growls and groans echo throughout the forest. Wil stumbles throughout the forest, trying to make it out of the dense forest, but a stray root catches his foot that sends the boy sprawling onto the forest floor.

Wilbur crawls towards Tommy and curls protectively around him. He might die but he’d be damned if they got his little brother. 

He squeezes his eyes shut as he waits for death to arrive.

_Whoosh._ An arrow shoots over his head and stabs into the neck of one of the zombies, killing it instantly. The other follows soon after. Wilbur looks up at what had saved them and sees their father looming protectively over the boys. His wings are spread wide above their heads and in his hands was Technoblade’s treasured _Rocket Launcher_.

“D-Dad?” Wilbur croaks, his voice choked with tears.

“I’m here, son. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Wilbur lets out a strangled sob and Philza gently picks up Tommy out of the snow, holding him tightly against his chest. His brother looks so small being enveloped in Philza’s giant wings. Philza gently places a hand against Wil’s cheek and then pulls him against his chest as well.

Wilbur shoves his face into his father’s neck and lets the tears flow freely down his cheeks, he could faintly hear his younger brother crying as well. 

“You did so well, Wil. I’m so proud of you.” Philza soothes, brushing a hand through his hair.

Wilbur shakes his head against Phil and cries, “I was so scared, Phil. I didn’t know what to do. He was going to kill us and I froze up. I could have killed us.”

Philza shushes the boy and pulls him closer, “No son, you did everything you could have done. You kept Tommy safe. He’s alive because of you.”

“God, Wil. I’m so sorry I couldn’t get here sooner. The house was a wreck but I was able to track your footprints.”

“W-What about Dream?” Tommy murmurs, his glassy blue eyes looking up at their father.

“No sign of him, his tracks vanished right outside the house. I think he’s gone for now.”

“H-He’s never...gone. He’ll be b-back.” Tommy whimpers.

“You both won’t be alone next time. Not ever again.” Philza promises. After a few moments, they break away from the hug and Philza hoists Tommy into his arms. Wilbur trails slowly next to him, exhausted.

And so, the three slowly begin slowly trekking back towards home just as the sun began to dawn over the horizon. A new day was born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this after watching today's stream to fill the void.


	4. Cobblestone Towers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS. I did not expect this work to get many likes but y'all have blown my expectations out of the water. Thank you so much for your support!

“I won’t lie, this feels like treason, Tubbo,” Ranboo says nervously as he was crafting a flint and steel. The two are currently crouched down in a patch of tall grass just next to the courthouse, a wad of TNT is curled in Tubbo’s hand.

“I mean...technically it’s not treason considering I’m the president. But yeah, I see what you mean.”

Ranboo gives a nervous chuckle before he continues to sharpen the steel and bend it into its proper “C” shape.

“You almost got it?” Tubbo asks.

“Yeah just about, one sec. This would be so much easier if Sapnap were here, then he could heat the metal for me. Being a blaze hybrid is so _useful._ ”

“True but I think Endermen hybrids are cooler.” Tubbo smiles.

Ranboo blushes slightly at the compliment and then hands Tubbo the finished product. Tubbo shakes his head and hands both the TNT and flint and steel back.

“I need you to light for me this Ran. Do it in precisely four minutes okay? It’ll be just enough time for me to get past Big Q and Fundy and then alert Technoblade. Afterward, I need you to run as fast as you can back to base...or uh just teleport I guess.” 

“Just to clarify, you want me to light a _stick of dynamite_ next to a building you are in? Therefore putting your life in danger? Are you sure you’ve thought this through, Tubbo?”

“Not at all, good luck.” Tubbo squeaks nervously before hopping to his feet and jogging over to Fundy and Quackity.

“I’m so gonna get demoted for this, I’m sure of it.” Ranboo sighs.

—————————————————————

Technoblade paces agitatedly around his cell. The sun would soon dawn over the horizon and Tubbo still hadn’t released him. What the fuck was taking the kid so long? 

He grabs the iron bars violently in a fit of frustration. Technoblade shakes them harshly, letting the deafening sound of metal clanging against metal drown out the voices that are screaming in his head.

He only stops when his ears begin ringing from the noise, that and Quackity threatens to gut him if he didn’t shut the fuck up. Not that he feels threatened by a man the height of a middle schooler.

He lets his head rest gently against the iron, his light pink hair shadowing his face. He hasn’t felt the need to braid it back, there just wasn’t a point to it. Besides, Technoblade has bigger things to worry about than his vanity.

It has been half a day since he’d left Tommy and Wilbur by themselves and he was regretting it dearly. _Stupid. Stupid mistake._ He hasn’t seen a death message, which is a good sign. But he also hasn’t received any messages from them _at all_ , which is a bad sign.

He sorely hopes that Dream had just been trying to scare him. The masked man has always had a flair for the dramatics, no matter how fucked up the implications were. 

Suddenly the huge oaken doors creak open and Tubbo rushes through them, a look of nervousness flickering in his blue eyes. Technoblade sags in relief at the sight of the brunette.

The boy turns to gently shut the door behind him before walking over to Technoblade. Tubbo fidgets nervously with a small object in his hands as he speaks softly.

“Ranboo is going to blow up the wall of your cell in about two minutes. Get ready to run.”

Technoblade’s face goes completely slack at the statement and after a long moment of shock, his brain kicks back in. 

“ _HEEH?_ ” He sputters before ducking his head at the volume. He then responds in a soft, but terse voice, “What do you mean you're blowing up the wall?!”

“Look there isn’t much time, take this.” Tubbo reaches his hands through the bars and places a small golden object in his hands.

Technoblade’s eyes widen comically as he stares at the totem, “How the hell did you get this? These are ridiculously rare to come by.”

“Don’t worry about it. If the blast kills you, you’ll be fine alright? Now brace yours—“

The world explodes.

Technoblade is sent flying against the iron bars, his head bashing against the hard metal. His body lands hard against the stone brick flooring and feels one of his ribs crack. Stars dance across his vision, but he doesn’t die. It takes him a moment to come to and he immediately looks over to where Tubbo had been standing a minute prior.

The boy had been blown back into the wall, his head cracking against the stone. He is currently crumpled on the floor, he isn’t moving. Technoblade can see a small pool of blood seeping from his skull.

“Tubbo!” Techno croaks and he sees the boy shift at the call. His blue eyes flicker open and his arm shifts to point at something behind him. 

Technoblade looks behind him to find that the stone wall that had entrapped him was now reduced to charred cobble. He is free.

Technoblade turns back to Tubbo only to find that he’d passed out. Voices from outside were starting to grow near. People were coming, he needs to move. 

He pockets the Totem of Undying and begins crawling towards the open wall. He lands on the charred grass and tries to stand on his feet. His head swims and he's pretty sure he is concussed. 

_Walk! Run! Go, Techno!_ The voices cry, and Technoblade listens without hesitation. He begins slowly shuffling and stumbling down a hill and after a few minutes, he had regained enough balance to begin jogging. His legs ache and his vision spun but he keeps going. 

Once he finds where he’d stashed Carl, everything would be fine. He also desperately needs to find an ender chest. Technoblade legs suddenly buckle without warning and he's sent tumbling down a hill. He lands hard on his side and groans. 

This is going to suck. Getting home is going to take him forever.

It begins as a faint thumping in the back of his mind but slowly grows louder as hooves thud again wood and grass alike, drawing closer and closer towards Technoblade.

Technoblade looks toward the direction of the noise to find Ranboo gaining quickly on him. He was riding a horse and Technoblade panics and scrambles up to his feet.

He's about to sprint away when he realizes that the horse Ranboo was riding looked pretty damn familiar. It's Carl.

Ranboo rides close and reaches a bony hand out for Technoblade to grab onto. Technoblade holds it tight as he swings up behind Ranboo, noticeably lacking his usual grace. 

Ranboo places a golden sword into Technoblade’s hand, gives him a nod, and leaps off Carl. Techno looks off in awe as he rolls into a perfect landing and sprints away into the darkness. Technoblade takes a moment to reign in Carl, who snorts happily at Techno’s presence. He pulls the reins to the right to turn Carl in the direction of his house and begins racing home.

————————————————————-

By the time they'd arrived back home, Tommy has long since passed out in his father’s arms. As they catch sight of Technoblade’s house, Wilbur suddenly gasps, his gaze entrapped towards something in the darkness. Phil turns and follows his eldest son’s gaze, squinting into the darkness until his eyes adjust. A large cobblestone tower, much like the ones Tommy made frequently, has erected itself in the large field by Technoblade’s home.

“Dream…” Wilbur mutters and shakes an angry fist at the build.

“He’s mocking him. Dream knows he’s here and he’s mocking him. He’s mocking _us,_ Phil.” Wilbur curses.

Phil nods and huffs at the eyesore, “So that’s why his tracks disappeared, he let you go on purpose. But why bother building it if he wants Tommy dead?”

Wilbur shrugs, “I have no idea. He must be planning on something else for Tommy.”

“Not if I can help it. Come on, let’s go inside before we freeze to death.” Phil states. They walk up to the door of his son’s home. _Their_ home. Phil shifts Tommy gently into one of his arms as he opens the door to their home. 

The place is a wreck. 

Items had been strewn all over the floor and all of Technoblade’s zombie villagers had been slain. The windows of the house had been shattered and glass littered the floor. Wilbur trudges in behind him and raises an eyebrow at the destruction. 

“Shit…” Wilbur curses and places a hand against his forehead in shock. Philza nods and begins ascending up the stairs into the attic where Technoblade’s room is. Phil groans at the sight. 

Technoblade’s room has been utterly demolished. His bed was ripped to shreds and all the chests had been tossed around. Once again, the windows had been smashed and Phil shutters at the cold breeze that drifts through the room. 

Wil moves past him and attempts to flip the destroyed bed back upright. He swipes off any glass that had landed on the bed and tries his best to make a comfortable space for Tommy to rest. Once he’d finished salvaging what he could, Philza places the small boy onto the bed and uses Technoblade’s robe as a blanket. Tommy sighs and snuggles into the coat before drifting back off to sleep.

Philza turns towards his eldest son, who looks to be dead on his feet. His face is pale and his brown eyes seemed glassy. The boy wobbles a bit on his feet and Phil could tell that his knees are shaking. He sighs and motions for Wilbur to join Tommy on the bed.

Wilbur gives his father a tired smile and climbs into bed. He pulls his younger brother against his chest and curls underneath the robe as well. Within seconds both of his boys are fast asleep. Philza smiled at the sight and ruffles the hair of his eldest, he then grabs a dustpan and broom from the corner and got to work.

He spends about an hour sweeping every single bit of glass up and then spends the next hour putting items back in their proper chest. Thankfully, not all of the inhabitants in Technoblade’s home had been slain. He's relieved to find that Bob and Edward were safe and sound, though Bob appeared to be quite startled from all the destruction. Philza rubs a hand atop of the cow’s head and Bob mooed softly at the affection, nuzzling his face into Phil’s chest.

Now came the hard part, he needs to patch up the windows so they don’t freeze to death. It would take a few hours to smelt the sand into glass so Philza ends up using thick pieces of cloth and some wooden planks to temporarily patch up the windows. It wasn’t perfect but it would hold for now. Technoblade could help him install proper windows later.

Speaking of his middle child, where is he? Tubbo said that Technoblade wouldn’t be traveling too far behind him but it had been hours since he arrived home, and his son was nowhere in sight. The sun is now halfway in the sky, signaling that it was about nine o'clock. Philza huffs and tries to stifle the panic that stirred in his chest. He can’t help but worry even though he knows that Technoblade could damn well take care of himself.

Once all the windows had been patched, Philza moves to the fireplace in the living room. The couch had been flipped but was still in decent shape, surprisingly. Phil grabs a bundle of firewood along with a flint and steel that sat on top of the mantle. He sets the logs in the fireplace and uses some paper nearby as kindling. In a matter of minutes, there is a steady fire warming up the freezing homestead.

Philza moves back into the storage area and fishes out as many blankets as he could carry. Thankfully these hadn’t been destroyed. He climbs back up the stairs and practically threw them atop Tommy and Wilbur. 

He was about to head back downstairs when he notices his youngest son peering at him with one eye. Noticing he’d been caught, Tommy’s eyes flutter open and he pries himself out of Wilbur’s death grip.

“You should get some more rest, Toms. You’re not well.” Philza says gently and Tommy scoffs.

“Last time I did that, I damn near got murdered in my sleep.” 

_Touche,_ Philza thought and sighs as he tries again, “I promise nobody will hurt you while I’m around. Try to get some rest, kiddo.”

“But I’m not tired!” Tommy groans and Philza’s eyebrows shoot up in doubt, “Yes, you are Tommy. Now go back to bed.”

“No,” Tommy says sharply and crosses his arms. Phil sighs in annoyance and places his arms onto the boy’s shoulders, nudging the boy a bit too harshly towards the bed.

What he hadn’t expected was Tommy’s reaction. The boy flinches and jolts away from his touch. His breathing picks up wildly and his eyes widen. Philza gasps at the fear that laced his son’s expression.

Then once Tommy realized what he’d done, he panics as he begins sputtering out,

“Sorry! I’m sorry! I’ll give you my things just please don’t hurt me Dre--” The boy cuts off and then whispers, “...sorry.” 

“Tommy?” Philza says cautiously, watching as Tommy’s eyes dart around as if he wasn’t sure where he was. The boy then looks at Phil and Tommy’s blue eyes fill with familiarity.

“Phil? Crap, I’m sorry. I just...sorry.”

“Woah, it’s alright Tommy. I shouldn’t have shoved you. Why don’t we go downstairs and see what food we have in the pantry?”

At the mention of a good meal, Tommy’s eyes perk up and he smiles sheepishly.

“All right, if it’s not too much to ask...can we make waffles?”

_I’m gonna fucking murder Dream._ Phil thought angrily. _Tommy is never this cautious. This isn’t like him._

The Tommy he knew and the Tommy he’d raised would never apologize like this. He would never act so timid. His Tommy was a confident and brash young lad, who was rude and annoying at first but slowly grew on you. 

Though a part of Phil has always wished for his youngest to be more considerate towards others, this was definitely not how he wanted it to happen. He needs to get to the bottom of what Dream had done to him, but he needs to be gentle. Getting the information from Tommy would be an arduous task and asking blunt questions would only make him panic. 

“Phil?” Tommy asks gently, his blond eyebrows raised in concern at the lack of a response.

Phil shakes himself out of his thoughts and smiles fondly at Tommy, “Yes Tommy, we can make waffles.”

Tommy smiles.

————————————————————-

The arrow on Technoblade’s compass points steadily North as he treks through the pine trees. After their journey across the sea, Techno felt it was best to give his steed a break from riding. So they settled on walking through the dense forest, snow crunching loudly under Techno’s boots.

Hopefully, they would be arriving home soon. Given his best estimate, he predicts they would be there within the hour. Technoblade’s ears perk up as a raven rustled within one of the trees before flying away. The forest is quiet today, all the animals were either hibernating or purposely avoiding the skilled hunter that trekked through their homestead. He smiles, he is glad he’s chosen to build a life out here for himself. Though he worries that it might be all for naught now that Dream knew where he lived.

Suddenly Carl stops and Technoblade feels the horse tense. The horse whines nervously and shifts backward a few steps. He was hearing something. Technoblade grabs the sword that Ranboo had given him and holds it out defensively as he listens carefully to the ambiance around him.

Faintly, Techno picks up on the sounds of light footsteps trailing nearby. They are coming from the right and growing closer.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” Technoblade demanded, his voice echoing throughout the forest. The footsteps stopped and Technoblade heard a dark chuckle stemming from a bush nearby.

“Easy, Blade. I just want to talk. No need for violence.” The voice speaks out from a nearby tree, there is a bit of rustling as Dream walks out into the light.

The man is still clothed in his signature green hoodie _(Did he even wash that thing?)_ and his mask is still carved with the same creepy ass smile it always has been. But Dream’s hair looked wild from underneath its hood and Dream seemed more on edge than normal.

Technoblade chuckles darkly and sneers at the man, “You tried to murder my brothers, in my book that calls for a significant amount of violence.”

“True. Though from what I can tell, you don’t even know if they’re alive or not. What kind of brother leaves their family alone like that?”

“Fuck you.” Technoblade spat, but Dream only smiles. 

“Relax, they got away. Happy now? Though I was able to leave a housewarming gift for Tommy. Something to remember me by.”

_They’re alive. They’re alive._

“What do you want, Dream? What do you have to gain from killing a sixteen-year-old boy?”

Dream sneers, “Control, Technoblade. Tommy is the definition of chaos, he causes problems wherever he goes. At Logstedshire, I could control him and there were no more problems. But now that he’s with you, I’m forced to be a bit more creative.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Dream shakes his head and smiles, “Can I not say hello to an old friend?”

Technoblade growls at that, “We are _not_ friends. Why are you really here?”

“Just to remind you that your dad and brother are on their _last life_. Not that you seemed all that concerned when Wilbur was on his. If you aren't too careful you'll be alone before you know it.”

Enraged, Technoblade swings his sword at him. Dream dodges effortlessly as he dances through the forest. He scales up a tree and sneers at Technoblade before saying,

“You can’t save him, Blade. His mind will either break or I’ll end his miserable existence myself. Once Tommy is gone, everything will fall into place.”

“You’re wrong. If you so much as breathe near this property again. I will be your new problem. That’s a promise.” Technoblade roars. Dream’s face twists into an ugly grimace and he growls at him before vanishing into the trees.

Once the masked man had fled, Technoblade swung up onto Carl. He gently combs his finger’s through the horse’s mane, trying his best to calm himself. It wasn’t working. He gently signals Carl to move and the horse begins steadily trotting through the snow.

Carl turns his head and looks back at Technoblade, he sighs at the horse’s sad glance. He knows Carl could tell when he was upset. Horses are smart like that. Techno pats the horse gently and says, “It’s alright Carl. I’ll be okay, let's just go home.”

It wasn’t long before they exited the forest and Technoblade smiles as he saw smoke rising from his chimney. Then he sees it. A cobblestone tower that rose high into the afternoon sky, ugly in every way. It screamed Tommy, but Technoblade knew better. This is the housewarming gift Dream had mentioned. 

He sighs, looking away from the eyesore, and hops off Carl. He slowly leads the horse back into his enclosure, filled up his food trough, and filled his water. He gently presses his face into Carl’s mane, trying to compose himself before he walked into the horse. Carl neighs softly and nudges Technoblade with his face. Techno chuckles softly as the horse begins to nudge him towards the house, seemingly telling him to man up and greet his family.

“Alright, alright! I’m going.” Technoblade says with a laugh. He makes his way up the front steps and looks back at Carl who was eyeing him, making sure he didn’t chicken out. As soon as he opened the front door, the mouth-watering smell of waffles slapped him in the face. 

And then he actually was slapped in the face. 

Technoblade staggers backward from shock and looks up to find Wilbur glaring at him in anger. He's just about to start apologizing when the anger in his eyes melts away into relief and his brother starts crying. 

He didn’t hesitate, as Techno instantly pulls his older brother into his arms, hugging him tightly as the man’s shoulders shake silently.

“You’re such an arse, Tech.” Wilbur sniffles and pulls him closer, his hands clutch tightly against Technoblade’s coat. 

“Sorry, Wil,” Technoblade mumbles into his brother’s shoulder. Wilbur pulls back and smiles tearfully at him. He sets a hand on his shoulder and squeezes tightly, he then lets go and moves past Wilbur to find his father.

Said father was currently standing frozen in the kitchen, a dish held in one hand and a sponge in the other. He stares at Technoblade in shock and then gently set the sponge and plate into the sink. He moves quickly around the kitchen island as he walks briskly towards him. He stops a few inches away from Technoblade and gently places a hand against his cheek. Technoblade leans into the touch and smiles at Phil,

“What’s up?” Technoblade teases and Phil rolls his eyes at him before pulling him into a hug.

“Don’t you what’s up to me, idiot. I thought you were dead.” Philza mutters against his chest. 

Technoblade laughs, “Technoblade never dies, Phil.”

Techno winces as Wilbur sharply thumps the back of his head at the comment. Philza pulls back and carefully grabs at a clump of Technoblade’s matted hair. From it, Phil pulls out a leaf and Technoblade laughs, “Forgot to braid it.”

“Aether above, this is going to take forever this untangle.” Philza groans and then went upstairs to fetch a brush.

Technoblade turns to his brother and asks, “Where’s Tommy?”

Wilbur points at the couch in the living room and Technoblade snorts.

Tommy was curled up into a ball on the couch, his old coat wrapped tightly around him. He was fast asleep.

“Kid passed out about an hour ago. He ate too many waffles and got sick.” Wilbur laughs.

“I bet he did. His stomach is probably the size of a walnut.” Technoblade frowns. He walks into the living room and sits on the scuffed-up couch. He stares at his younger brother for a long moment, as if to make sure he was real. Then, once he's certain the boy isn't going to disappear from the living room couch, he scoops up the sleeping boy and holds him close to his chest. Tommy doesn’t stir and for that Technoblade is grateful. 

Wilbur sits next to him on the couch, he picks up a book that has been discarded on the coffee table. Then he leans against Techno and begins reading. Eventually, Phil comes downstairs, a brush and a comb in hand, and looks fondly at the sight. 

Technoblade has his head leaned back against the couch, his eyes closed and his chest rising softly. Tommy is curled up in Techno’s lap and has his head buried in the crook of his neck, sound asleep. His lanky legs are being used as back support for Wilbur who is reading quietly. 

He quietly descends down the remainder of the stairs and moves behind Techno’s head. His son snorts, rousing slightly at the noise. He looks back at Phil and eyes the comb, warily. Finally, he nods before letting his eyes shut once more. Phil smiles and slowly begins brushing through Techno’s long hair, pulling bits of dirt and leaves out as he tries to untangle the insane amount of knots that have weaved themselves into Techno’s normally flawless locks.

Thankfully, Techno is not tender-headed and only let out a slight grunt whenever Phil accidentally tugged too hard. Phil eventually got his hair back to a somewhat normal state of smoothness. He decides that a loose french braid would do well today and begins winding the hair together into the familiar pattern. Once he’d finished he ties the braid off with a pink elastic he kept on his wrist at all times, just for Techno.

At this point, Wilbur too had fallen asleep. The book lay open against his lap and the boy’s head rested against the couch, his back still being supported by his brother’s legs. Philza sets the comb on the coffee table and collapses into the armchair that sat next to the couch. His eyes grow heavy as he watches his sons sleep, lulled by the rise and fall of each chest. 

Philza’s heart feels full, his family is home. All of them, safe and sound. His chest floods with warmness and with that thought, he lets sleep pull him under.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it! They really help motivate me!


	5. Falling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Suicide Attempt
> 
> this chapter is a gut punch not gonna lie

_“What do you think you’re doing, Tommy?” The harsh voice startled Tommy as he stood up and turned his head towards the owner._

_No one was there._

_He looked around and found himself in the midst of a dark forest. It was misty and eerily quiet. He stumbled around looking for a source of light amidst the trees, growing desperate as footsteps began to echo throughout the forest._

_“You can’t run from me forever, Tommy. I will find you.” The voice called out, a sinister edge lacing the owner’s tone._

_“What do you want?!” Tommy cried, his voice bouncing off the trees throughout the forest._

_Suddenly a hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed him by the hood of his jacket. The teen was hoisted into the air for a single terrifying moment before he was thrown several feet into a tree._

_Tommy’s head slammed against the dark oak trunk and his vision swam with stars. He landed hard on his stomach and he turned his head to look at the man stalking towards him._

_Dream squatted in front of him and grinned, his mask smiling demonically at him. The man suddenly grabbed a fistful of Tommy’s hair and pulled his head up. Tommy cried at the force and began to sob._

_“Please, Dream. Let me go. I’ll be good, I promise.”_

_Dream’s sword pressed hard against his jugular and Tommy winced as he felt it cut into his neck._

_“It’s too late for that, Tommy. Now be a good boy and_ **_die_ ** _.”_

Tommy bites his tongue as he holds back the scream that lurches in his throat. He didn’t jolt however as he awoke from the nightmare. His eyes flutter open and he quickly wipes away the tears that had stained his cheeks. As the world slowly came into focus he quickly notices that he is not alone in the room. 

He feels something laying against his legs and he looks forward to find that Wilbur’s back is resting against him, his head cushioned by the couch. He also notices that he is sitting in someone’s lap. 

The sleeping figure underneath him thankfully doesn’t stir as Tommy uses the arm of the couch to lift himself off of the person. He gently pulls his legs out from underneath Wil’s back, carefully letting his brother slide backward. He cautiously pulls his feet out from underneath Wil’s head, setting him down onto the figure’s lap. 

Finally free, he swings his legs over the couch and stands up. He then turns to the person he was sleeping on and his eyes widen in disbelief at the sight of his elder brother. Technoblade’s head rested comfortably against the couch and Tommy couldn’t help but smile. 

Carefully he backs up but startles as his backside hits against an armchair. Tommy shoves his hand against his mouth as he squeaks in surprise. He turns around and sees his father passed out in the armchair. Tommy feels a sense of ease being surrounded by his family but what was even more pleasing was that he was finally alone. 

Now he could snoop without worrying about someone telling him to go to sleep or eat something.

It was his first time being completely alone since his arrival here. Backing away quietly from his snoozing family, he grabs Wilbur’s coat from the rack and throws it over him. 

His foot feels much better today and Tommy has a feeling its quick healing is due to the health potions Wilbur had given him. Tommy sits down in front of the front door and begins unwrapping the bandage on his foot. He removes the splints that supported his ankle and begins examining his foot.

It was definitely still somewhat broken but Tommy felt that if he has the bandage wrapped around it along with a few pairs of socks and his boots, the ankle would hold. 

So he grabs a bundle of socks from a laundry basket that sat nearby and begins wrapping his ankle back up. Once secure he starts layering socks atop his broken limb. Finally, he grabs the boots that Technoblade had given him and laces them on.

Now comes the hard part.

Using the door handle, Tommy carefully uses his good foot to stand up. He's just about to head out into the cold when a beanie hanging on the coatrack catches his eye.

Tommy smiles and quickly shoves the beanie on his head and over his ears. Now that he is properly dressed for the winter weather, he opens the door as quietly as he can and walks out onto the front steps.

The first thing that catches Tommy’s eyes was the beautiful cobblestone tower that stood tall in the field in front of him.

“How the hell did I not notice this?! That’s fucking awesome!” Tommy giggles gleefully.

He carefully walks down the stone steps, happy that his ankle is holding with little pain. His boots crunch against the snow as he begins walking towards the most glorious tower he’d ever seen.

A harsh whinnying behind him startles him out of his bliss and he turns towards the noise. Carl was thrashing around in his pen as Tommy had never seen before. Tommy limps over to his pen and watches as the horse instantly calms as he drew near. He reaches a hand out and was amazed when Carl instantly presses his snout into his palm.

Tommy laughs, an astonished and soft sound that bubbled up in his chest. He gently rubs the horse’s head and Carl neighs happily. He retracts his hand, glad to have made a new friend. He begins making his way back over to the cobblestone tower and once again, Carl went mad in his cage.

Tommy quirks a brow in confusion. Why was Carl flipping out?

“Hey...hey! It’s alright, Carl. I’m not leaving, I promise. I’m just going to check out the tower, okay?” Tommy assures, petting the horse’s nose fondly.

Carl didn’t calm and instead nips at his hand, biting down hard on the sleeve of his jacket. Tommy winces and tugs at his arm, trying to free himself.

“Carl! Let go!” Tommy asks, growing irritated at the horse’s irrational behavior. Tommy pulls hard at the horse and frowns when he hears the sleeve rip.

Tommy holds up his now freed arm and pokes at the tear, the remaining fabric hanging loosely in Carl’s mouth.

Tommy growls at the animal, “Look what you did! This is Will’s coat! Bad horse! Bad! Bad!”

Carl huffs at him and lets the fabric fall against the snow, daring for Tommy to pick it up.

Tommy scoffs, flipping off the animal, and begins to stomp angrily towards the tower. Once again, Carl went ballistic in his pen but Tommy didn’t care, he didn’t even bother to turn around.

He refuses to let his good mood be ruined by Techno’s dumb horse.

As he drew near the tower, the sounds of Carl losing his mind faded away, and Tommy smiles. Now he could climb in peace.

Though he is normally used to scaling towers like these no problem, with his injured leg it would be damn near impossible. Thankfully, there was an easily accessible ladder built on the side that went straight up to the top.

It takes him nearly fifteen minutes before he’d finally reaches the top, his ankle at this point is screaming at him for a break. Tommy stares back down the tall but sturdy ladder he had just ascended and decides quickly that there is no way he’d be able to climb back down on his own. His ankle would surely give in and he’d fall to his death. He supposed that Philza would have to be the one to get him down.

The air up at the top of the tower is icy cold and the wind threatens to knock him off his feet, but Tommy could care less. As he looks over the beautiful snowy landscape, he feels at peace.

Tommy stands tall over the endless forest that stretched to the east. He admires the gorgeous tundra that span to the west. And if he looked over the edge, he could just barely make out Carl, still throwing a fit.

He felt free on this tower. Up here, he felt confident enough to take over the world. Up here, he felt like himself.

“Hello, Tommy.” Dream’s quiet, yet spine-chilling tone calls out from behind.

Now he felt trapped.

Tommy whirls around at the voice, taking a startled step backward. Dream was kneeling in front of him, a whetstone clenched in his fist. He was using it to sharpen his already perfect sword.

Words caught in Tommy’s throat and all he manages to let out was a frightful yelp at the man. Dream chuckles darkly and stores the whetstone away in his pocket, then he brandishes his blade in front of Tommy as if telling him to admire it.

“It’s been a while, how have you been? Logstedshire seems pretty empty these days.”

“Y-You...how? I-I...nononono...go away!” Tommy shouts and pulls at his hair with his fists. 

“Aw, Tommy, that’s not very nice.” Dream frowns. “I came all this way just to see you after all.”

Tommy stumbles backward a step as Dream stood to his feet. He twirls the blade in his fist before saying, “I’m your only friend, remember?”

Tommy shakes his head and hisses back, “No...you’re not my friend. You tried to kill me! You manipulated me! You made me feel like I was worthless!”

Dream laughs, it's cold and full of spite, “I never told you anything that wasn’t true.”

“You’re a liar, Dream.”

“Think about it, Tommy. No one came to visit you in the weeks you were exiled. No one. Not Tubbo, not Technoblade, and definitely not Philza. Clearly, they all had better things to do than to worry about a brat like you.”

Tommy grabs his head and shakes it as he crouches to the ground, taking yet another step backward. “That’s not true! They love me, they just didn’t know what you were doing to me.”

“Yes, they did.”

Tommy opens his eyes and stares at a Dream, he whispers under his breath, “...What?”

Dream takes a step forward and his eyes filling with delight that he’d found the correct button to push, not that Tommy could see, given the mask, “Wilbur visited you, did he not?”

“He was dead at that point...he wouldn’t remember…”

“I think you’re underestimating how much that fucking ghost actually remembers. Think about it, why does he carry around blue all the time? Because he’s sad. Because he remembers nearly everything that happened to him. And he most certainly remembers everything that happened after becoming a ghost.” Dream cackles, throwing his head back to laugh insanely, “He _knew,_ and he certainly told Phil and Techno. And they did **_nothing_ **.”

“Stop…” Tommy says tearfully, his feet shuffling back another step. “Stop it!”

“Your ‘ _family_ ’ left you to rot. You’re a burden to them, Tommy. If you truly love them, you will jump off this tower and end it. They will all be better off without you.”

Tommy sobs, his head pressed against his knees as he wailed. Dream was right. Dream was always right. He's nothing to his family. They didn’t care about him. They left him. The only one who still cared...was Tubbo.

“T-Tubbo…” Tommy croaks and watches Dream as he crouches in front of him. Dream takes Tommy’s chin in his hand and lifts his head up to meet his eyes.

“Yes, Tommy. Tubbo cares about you. Even I won’t deny that. But are you really doing him a favor by staying on this planet?” Dream says bluntly, and Tommy sniffles, “Do you know where Tubbo is right now, Tommy?”

Tommy shakes his head and Dream smiles and lifts the compass from the inside of his shirt. He pauses briefly to admire that fine handiwork that had gone into it. 

“Tubbo is in a coma right now, do you know why?” 

Tommy’s breath hitches in his throat. Tubbo was in a coma? Why? What happened? Once again, Tommy shakes his head.

“He was trying to free Technoblade and blew himself up. He was trying to save you by freeing Technoblade. It’s your fault that Tubbo is in a coma, Tommy. L’Manburg is without a president right now and it’s _your fault_.”

With that final blow, Dream rips the compass off of Tommy’s neck and drives his netherite dagger into it. 

“You don’t deserve his friendship, Tommy. You don’t deserve to be loved by anyone.” Dream throws the broken compass to the side and pulls Tommy to his feet.

He turns the boy around so his back was against his chest. Dream’s hands snake on top of his shoulder and he whispers in his ear. 

“Do us all a favor, Tommy.” Dream hisses, “End it.” 

Tommy stares at the ground and for the second time in his life, he considers jumping to his death. The hands around his shoulders fade away and Tommy turns back to Dream, only to find that the man had vanished.

He was alone.

He stood inches away from the edge of death and thought long and hard about what Dream had said. Tommy knew Dream was a master manipulator and a liar, but some of what Dream told him rang bells of truth. He knows for certain that Wilbur didn’t remember sad memories that had occurred before his death, but Wilbur certainly remembered things that happened after his death. Otherwise, he wouldn’t carry blue on him all the time. Now whether or not he could retain the knowledge for long was up for debate. He knows his brother’s memory was fucked up pretty badly. And if he had told Phil and Techno, then why wouldn’t they have come to save him?

Even if they hadn’t known, they still never had come to visit him. They never even tried. Phil and Technoblade had left him to slowly go insane, just like they’d done to Wilbur.

And then there was Tubbo.

Tommy looks down at the shattered remains of the compass. It was broken far beyond repair. He carefully kneels down and scoops up the destroyed glass and iron that bound it together and clenched it tightly in his fist, letting the glass cut deep against his palm. His hand began streaming blood but Tommy didn’t care, he deserved it.

Tubbo had nearly sacrificed his life trying to save Tommy. If Tubbo died...he knew he wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt.

A memory bubbles up in his mind of one of the final times Tubbo and he had sat together on their bench in L’manburg.

It had been before he and Ranboo had burned down George’s house and ruined everything. It was one of his favorite memories of his best friend.

_“Which disc do you want to hear tonight, Tubs?”_

_“Do you still have Blocks?”_

_“Yep!” Tommy chirped and slid the disc into the jukebox. The happy melody flooded the isolated patch of nature Tommy had built for himself and he sighed, truly content in this moment._

_Tommy moved to sit back down next to Tubbo and together the two watched as the sun slowly dipped below the horizon._

_“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Tubbo said after a long period of silence. Tommy perked his head up and turned to look at the brunette,_

_“What’cha mean?”_

_“What if...What if tomorrow...we lost everything. Like what if L’Manburg suddenly exploded tomorrow and everything was gone.”_

_Tommy laughed breathlessly at the ridiculous thought. L’Manburg could never blow up, it was impossible to even imagine such a scenario._

_“Don’t laugh, I’m serious. What would happen to us, Tommy? What if we lost everything tomorrow? What would we do?”_

_“Well...we always have the cabin in the woods, Tubbo. We’d move there! We’d be happy. We’ll start a new L’Manburg. Besides, L’Manburg isn’t a place, L’Manburg is the people who live here.”_

_“You stole that from somewhere, I know you did,” Tubbo smirked and swatted a hand at him._

_Tommy giggled, “So, what? It’s true!”_

_“What if...what if I died tomorrow? Along with L’Manburg. Would you still rebuild it? Even without me?” Tubbo said, and the mood suddenly became grim._

_Tommy frowned, “Tubbo...you’re my best friend, you know that right?”_

_Tubbo nodded and replied, “And you’re mine, Tommy.”_

_“If you died tomorrow, I would follow you. I would follow you wherever you went, no matter how far.”_

_Tommy watched as Tubbo swallowed hard, emotion building up in his chest. There was a long moment of silence before he responded, “...and you call me clingy.”_

_Tommy laughed and shoved the boy off the bench, “Shut up! You’re the clingy one!”_

_Tubbo giggled and poked the boy’s sides as he sat back on the bench. There was a small slap fight that ended with both boys dissolving into fits of laughter. Once it had ended and both boys sat quietly on the bench, Tommy asked, “And if I died? What would you do?”_

_Tubbo didn’t hesitate and answered immediately, “I’d follow you. Always.”_

Tommy gulped back tears and whispered up into the sky, hoping somehow that Tubbo would hear his plea.

“I’m sorry, Tubbo. Don’t follow me, okay? Live. And be happy.” 

Tommy looks to the sky one final time, he exhales in awe at the beauty of this world. He clutches the broken compass tightly against his chest and leaps off the tower.

\----------------------------------------------------

Technoblade notices a few things upon waking up. The first was that Carl was losing his goddamn mind outside and two, Tommy is no longer in his arms.

The piglin jolts upwards from his spot and someone next to him groans as they are thrown onto the floor.

“What the fuck, man?” Wilbur hisses, rubbing a sore spot on his head. He winces as he stands up to his feet, suddenly noticing the absence of his youngest brother. 

“Where is Tommy?” Wilbur asks, the fear that laced his younger brother’s face only made him panic more.

Techno shakes his head briefly, his hands flying into his hair as he spun around, searching for the missing teen. Wilbur turns to where his father was snoozing and shakes his shoulder, a bit too harshly. Phil wakes with a start, his head spinning around as he looks grumpily at his son.

“What? What is it, Wil?” Phil says, sleep still clouding his tone.

“Tommy’s not here,” Wil says and he watches as the sleep immediately vanishes from his father’s eyes. Phil stands up and instantly begins helping Technoblade tear apart the house in search of his youngest son.

Outside, Wilbur can hear Carl freaking out in his pen, his eyebrow quirks up in confusion and he looks out the window to check up on the horse. Carl is normally a very calm horse, gentle in every way. It's strange that Techno and Carl seemed to get along so well, even when they had completely different temperaments. 

As he opens the front door, Carl immediately begins banging on the fence gate, desperately trying to open it. Wilbur carefully steps closer to the horse, slightly fearing that he might get kicked. As Wil drew near, Carl begins to settle and back up to the rear of his pen.

Wilbur carefully unhooks the latch that held the fence gate closed and then leaped back on the porch, he eyes the horse carefully.

Not even a moment after he’d unlatched the gate, Carl burst from his pen. Wilbur yelps as Carl nips hard on his arm and begins tugging him towards the cobblestone tower.

Wilbur panics and yells, “Techno, your horse is trying to kill me. HELP!!!”

Techno pokes his head out the front door and his brows lift up in surprise. As soon as Carl saw his owner, he releases Wilbur and starts to whip his head to the side. It almost looked as if he was trying to point to something.

Technoblade runs to the horse and gently places a hand on his snout and asks softly, “What is it, bud? Do you know where Tommy is?”

The horse neighs loudly and nips at Technoblade’s arm and as he begins dragging him towards the tower, Technoblade finally looks up and his eyes widen in horror.

Tommy is standing at the top of the cobblestone tower, teetering against the edge. Wilbur follows Technoblade’s gaze and screams when he spots his brother,

“Oh my gods! Shit! Phil! Phil get out here, now!”

Technoblade swings onto the horse and begins racing towards the tower, his eyes glued to his brother’s figure. His heart is pounding violently in his chest and the voices are screaming.

_Tommy. Tommy. Tommy! Save Tommy! Catch him! Save him!_

The moment he arrived at the base of the tower, Technoblade leaped off Carl and began scaling up the ladder. He was about half of the way up when the unthinkable happened.

Tommy jumped.

A mangled scream tore from Technoblade’s throat as he helplessly watches his little brother fall. 

Technoblade didn’t think. He didn’t hesitate. The only thought in his mind was that he has to save his brother, no matter what the cost. So with that thought in his mind, Techno leaps off the ladder, hurling himself into Tommy’s path.

Tommy’s body slams into his and Technoblade quickly wraps his arms tightly around him and turns himself so his back was facing the ground. He did his best to shield his brother from the hard impact as he curls protectively around the kid.

Technoblade squeezes his eyes shut as they plummet towards the earth. He prays to whatever gods were out there that Tommy would survive the fall because he knew that he wouldn’t.

Arms suddenly wrap around Technoblade’s waist and for a brief moment, he thought they were Tommy’s. Gravity pulls hard against the two as their rapid descent suddenly stops. Technoblade wonders for a moment if they had died on impact.

As the piglin opens his eyes, he realizes that they were still a few feet from the ground. He hears someone grunt behind him, straining against the weight of the two boys. Techno turns his head and sighs in relief at the sight of his father. Philza’s dark grey wings stretch out far as the man struggles to keep his hold. His giant wings flap gently against the bitterly cold air and the three slowly descend to the ground.

As soon as Philza’s feet touch solid earth he drops the boys onto the floor before face-planting into the snow. Technoblade hardly notices and turns his attention to Tommy whose hands are digging into his shoulders. His bright blue eyes are wide and full of terror, his breaths coming out in large exhales and brief inhales.

Technoblade pulls Tommy into his lap, his back presses against Technoblade’s chest. He buries one hand in Tommy’s hair and places the other against his chest. 

_Thump. Ker-thump. Thump. Ker-Thump._

Heart beating. His heart is beating. He wasn’t dead. They both are alive. His heart is beating.

A figure suddenly slams against both Technoblade and Tommy and suddenly his younger brother is no longer in his arms.

No. No...give him back. Please. _Please!_

Technoblade’s mind is racing and the voices are still screaming at him.

_Tommy. Tommy. Give him back! Want Tommy._

He can just barely hear Wilbur sobbing next to him.

“What the fuck. What the fuck. Why? W-Why?! Tommy why?!” Wilbur sobs and Technoblade turns to see that Wilbur has his face buried into the crook of Tommy’s shoulder, rocking the boy gently in his lap. Tommy’s expression hadn’t changed, his eyes still blown wide and his teeth are clenched tightly together.

Technoblade reaches out with a shaky hand and cups the boy’s face in his hands, only then did Tommy look at him. Tommy’s own palm comes up to rest against Techno’s hand and Technoblade’s heart shatters as the teen’s eyes well up in tears. 

Technoblade lets his head rest against Tommy’s forehead and he feels a few tears of his own fall from his cheeks.

A hand rests gently atop Technoblade’s shoulder and Techno didn’t need to turn around to know that it was Phil. Philza’s other hand disappears into Tommy’s curls and faint sniffling from behind him informed Technoblade that his father is also crying.

They stay like that for a long moment until Wilbur finally releases Tommy, he presses a gentle kiss against his baby brother’s forehead and then stands up. Technoblade watches as his older brother looks at him with a heartbroken expression and then begins walking solemnly towards the house.

Technoblade watches Wilbur for a moment before turning his attention back to Tommy. The teen sits there, pale and frail, his eyes puffy and red from crying. Tommy looks up at Technoblade who lets out a choked sob at the sight and Tommy falls apart. His brother flung himself into Technoblade’s arms and clings to him like a lifeline.

“-rry...sorry...I’m sorry...I’m sorry!” Tommy sobs into Technoblade’s chest. Technoblade buries his face into his brother’s hair and repeats what the voices had been screaming at him.

“I love you. I love you. We love you. Gods, we love you. Please. Please, don’t leave us. We love you.” Technoblade echos the words like a mantra to Tommy. The boy nods gently against his chest, sobs ripping through him. 

Arms and wings alike finally wrap around both boys as Philza finally breaks down into tears. He holds both of his sons tight against his chest as he cries. 

The reality of the events of the day sit uncomfortably in Technoblade’s gut as he holds Tommy.

His brother had tried to kill himself.

His baby brother had tried to commit suicide.

And he is going to find out why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i ended up having to chop this chapter in half because it was getting too long and I didn't know how to end it.
> 
> please leave a comment if you enjoyed


	6. A Time Long Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was not meant to be a flashback chapter but my brain said yes.
> 
> ALSO CRAB RAVE FOR THE LAST STREAM
> 
> seriously I cried so many times. Punz is MVP

They stayed there, huddled together at the base of the tower until Tommy eventually cries himself to sleep. Technoblade hoists the sleeping kid into his arms and uses his other arm to help support Phil, who'd injured his back and shoulders when he’d caught the two. 

By the time they made it back to the house, and Technoblade had escorted Carl back to his pen, they were all truly exhausted. As soon as the three step into the doorway, Technoblade’s eyes widen. Save for the wrecked furniture, the house is spotless. A tea kettle whistles on the stovetop, filling the air with the lustrous aroma. Blankets had been strewn across the couch, since obviously no one wants to be away from Tommy tonight, and a fire rages in the hearth. 

Apparently, Wilbur cleans when he was upset, who knew? Normally the taller man would passionately play his guitar when emotions boiled too high.

Technoblade gently deposits Phil into his armchair and went to the kitchen to fetch an ice pack. Tommy is snoozing quietly in his arms and Technoblade refuses to put him down. As he enters the kitchen, he nearly trips over Wilbur. He looks down at his older brother who has his back pressed against the kitchen island and his arms wrapped tightly around himself. 

Wilbur is staring at nothing in particular and Technoblade notices a blue-stained rag is clenched tightly in his fist. Techno sighs and shifts Tommy into one arm and uses the other one to hook under Wilbur’s shoulders, hoisting the man to his feet.

Technoblade grabs an ice pack from the freezer and presses it into his palm. Wilbur stares at it for a minute before Techno speaks,

“Phil hurt his back, can you help him while I get Tommy settled?”

Wilbur looks at Tommy for a long moment, then nods and leaves the kitchen.

Once he's alone, he sits Tommy onto the island, rousing the child from his slumber. The boy blinks blearily at him but doesn’t speak. Technoblade suddenly notices that Tommy’s hand is gushing blood and curls tightly around shards of glass and metal.

He turns and quickly grabs some antiseptic and bandages from one of the cabinets before he starts carefully prying the object from Tommy’s fist. Tommy lets out a choked whine as the bloodied remains of his compass are taken from him.

“It’s alright, Tommy. I’ll fix it, okay? Just let me fix your hand first.” Techno soothes.

Tommy sniffles, his eyes glued to the broken compass but he doesn’t argue. Techno gently opens the teen’s palm up and winces at the number of glass shards that were buried deep in his hand

“Sheesh kid, quite a grip you got there. What happened to the compass by the way?” Techno asks, trying his best to act like he wasn’t just as shell-shocked as Tommy. 

Tommy’s eyes widen and he shakes his head violently, Techno could see a memory relaying in Tommy’s eyes. He decides it's better to not pry right now. The older man shrugs at the lack of a definite response and grabs a set of tweezers from the medical kit.

“Hold your breath, this is going to hurt a bit,” Techno warns. Tommy’s body tenses as Techno slowly begins picking shards of glass from Tommy’s palm. Other than his body going as stiff as a ruler, the boy shows no reaction to the pain. Not a single sound dripped from the kid’s mouth and concern bubbles up in Techno’s chest. He hopes that by tomorrow or late tonight the kid will start talking again, but it was increasingly becoming less likely. 

Technoblade sighs, he could relate to that much. As a child, whenever emotions piled too high or the voices became too loud, he opted for silence.

But Tommy had always been loud. From the day Phil had brought him home, there was never a quiet moment in the house, until now.

Technoblade always assumed that he liked the quiet. The peace of his retirement meant that he spent most of his time alone. Even the voices had deafened mostly in that time.

But then Phil came knocking on his door one evening with Wilbur in tow, spewing nonsense about reviving his eldest son. Technoblade hadn’t thought it was possible at first until Phil handed him a dusty necromancy book and there it was. The solution to their problems.

Phil had stabbed Wilbur right in front of him, a totem of undying clutched tight in his fist, and Wilbur had been revived.

And then not even two weeks later, the youngest member of the family had burst back into their lives. And yet, it didn’t really feel like Tommy had ever really come home from his exile.

The teen had been a pale imitation of himself ever since he’d arrived. And today’s events had proven that thought ten times over. 

The final shard was carefully extracted from Tommy’s hand and Technoblade sets it down into the small dish he has sitting on the table next to him. Technoblade grabs the antiseptic from the medical kit and begins dousing it sparingly onto a clean rag. 

He holds Tommy’s palm steady as he begins gently applying the antiseptic. Unfortunately, Technoblade had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts he’d forgotten about one of the main effects that antiseptics had.

Tommy lets out a pained cry as the alcohol begins burning away all the dirt and bacteria in his wounded hand. He jerks his hand away from Technoblade’s grasp and whimpers. The kid clutches his palm tightly with his other hand and his jagged and rawly bit nails threaten to further damage the skin

“Sorry, kid. I forgot to warn you.” Techno grimaces and tries to grab Tommy’s hand back before the kid injures himself.

Tommy shakes his head harshly and clutches his bleeding hand tightly to his chest.

As much as Technoblade hates watching his little brother be in pain, he has to admit. Seeing any response come from him sends waves of relief through his chest. Techno knew that a common symptom of shock was a lack of a proper reaction to pain, so at the very least, Tommy is aware of what was happening.

“Toms, please give me your hand. I need to stitch it up.” Techno says as gently as his gruff tone would allow. He reaches his arm out tentatively towards the teen, trying to coax him back towards him.

Once again, Tommy shakes his head and scoots back as far away as the table would let him. Technoblade sighs and ran a hand through his disheveled braid.

“Please? It’s going to start bleeding again if you don’t let me.” Techno tries again, he didn’t reach out for him though. Worried that he might scare his brother.

Tommy doesn’t move and Technoblade can see streaks of blood dripping down his wrist. Techno’s eyes widen and he sighs, any blood clots that had flimsily formed on his palm had been destroyed. He’d have to disinfect the wound again now. 

Back to square one.

“Tommy, look at your hand. Please let me help. It’ll get infected and hurt even more if you don’t let me.” Technoblade really didn’t want to have to forcefully stitch up his palm but it was starting to seem like that was the only way it was going to happen.

A loud cracking sound suddenly echoes from the living room and both Tommy and Techno’s heads whirl around at the sound.

Tommy raises a questioning eyebrow at Technoblade who shrugs in response. He turns back to Tommy and holds out the wad of bandages.

“If you won’t let me stitch it, can I at least wrap your hand up?” Technoblade pleads. Tommy eyes the bandages warily but nods. He scoots forwards and nervously gives Technoblade his palm.

“I’m warning you, however, this is going to get infected because you didn’t let me properly clean it.” 

Tommy shrugs, and Technoblade sighs. He’d have to see if he could get Wilbur or Philza to fix up his hand later. Technoblade begrudgingly grabs the bandages and works quickly to wrap Tommy’s hand up. As soon as he’d finished another loud popping sound and a stifled cry from Philza once again had Tommy and Techno nervously eyeing the open door.

“Do you want me to carry you or are you okay to walk on your own?” Technoblade asks after an awkward pause. To Techno’s surprise, the teen immediately extends out his arms. 

A small smile tugs at Technoblade as he gently hoists Tommy into his arms. The effect was almost instantaneous, the kid practically melts into his arms, wrapping his arms loosely around Techno’s neck. Tommy’s head rests gently against his shoulder and Technoblade ends up sneezing from the blond curls that tickled his nose.

Once the kid was secure in his arms, Technoblade makes his way into the living room. To which he was greeted by a strange sight. 

Wilbur has one hand pressed at the top of Philza’s shoulder, while the other was holding Phil’s arm straight. It took Technoblade way longer than it should’ve to realize what Wil was trying to do.

“Oh, did you dislocate _both_ of your shoulders?” Technoblade chuckles, to which his father lifts his head to shoot a glare at him.

“This wouldn’t take so long if you’d _stop squirming._ ” Wilbur chides, then pushes his arm down to angle the joint with its socket.

“It hurts though…” Philza pouts.

“You and Tommy are literally the worst patients, I swear.” Technoblade teases as he sits on the couch. He feels a sharp pinch from Tommy in his side and laughs.

“Wilbur, I’m gonna need your help later with Tommy, by the way.” 

“Was he being stubborn?” Wilbur asks and then pushes hard on Phil’s shoulder. The joint slots back into place with a loud crack and Philza yelps.

“Got it!” Wilbur sighs in relief and then turns to Tommy and Technoblade. Wil circles the couch and lifts up Tommy’s tightly bandaged hand.

“Gods, Techno...are you trying to cut off his circulation?” Wilbur clicks his tongue in disapproval. He then begins gently unwrapping the stifling bondages until Tommy’s bloodied hand is free. Wil hisses through his teeth at the sight then turns to Phil.

“Uh...Phil?” 

“Yeah?” Philza asks, gently rotating his shoulders as he tries to get his circulation flowing again.

“How confident are you in your stitching abilities at the moment?” Wilbur questions, gently prodding at the shredded skin of Tommy’s palm. The kid winces and tears his hand away, or at least he tried to. Technoblade was quick to grab Tommy’s wrist before he could further injure himself.

“How bad is it?” 

“Pretty bad.” 

Philza sighs and gets up from his chair. He walks over to where Wilbur was and gently examines Tommy’s palm. 

“How did this happen?” Philza asks, delicately poking the skin as Wilbur had.

“His compass broke and he was still holding it when we brought him in. I removed all the glass but he refused to let me stitch it.” Technoblade admits. He feels somewhat dejected that Tommy didn’t seem to trust him enough to help.

Philza nods, his brow furrowing momentarily in concentration before he speaks to Tommy.

“Kiddo?” Tommy’s ears perk at the sound of his nickname and he lifts his head from Techno’s shoulder to look at Phil, “Will you let me stitch up your hand? I promise you I’ll be as careful as I can.”

Terrified of a needle piercing his palm, which was ironic since apparently glass was okay, Tommy begins struggling to free his wrist from Techno’s grasp. Not wanting to let the teen harm himself, Techno clutches his hand firmly. It was only when Wilbur steps in that Tommy finally calmed down.

“Easy, Tommy. Remember what we talked about? If you let Phil stitch up your hand, I’ll give you some blue. It’ll be so quick and then you’ll realize that you were worrying over nothing.” Wilbur says softly and gently ran a hand through Tommy’s wild hair. Tommy looks at Wilbur with pleading eyes, but once he finally realized he wasn’t getting out of this, he nods reluctantly.

“How about I tell you a story while we get this hand stitched up? Would you like that?” Philza inquires, as he motions for Technoblade to follow him. Tommy nods as he is carried bridal-style into the kitchen. 

Techno gently deposits the boy onto the counter and hands Phil the antiseptic that was still opened from its last painful usage. Philza douses a clean rag in it and cautiously nears Tommy, “What story would you like to hear?”

Tommy is silent, and while his voice screamed at him to be used he just couldn’t get the words out. He opens his mouth but only to let dust collect. Wilbur notices Tommy’s hesitation and swiftly interjects, “How about the day we brought Tommy home? I don’t know if we’ve ever told him the full story.”

Technoblade is quick to protest, “Uh, Wil? You do remember who found Tommy, right?”

Wilbur pales as he recalls and was about to let the topic drop when Tommy eagerly nods his head and signs, _“Yes, tell it.”_

Technoblade’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise, he thought Tommy had long forgotten how to use sign language. They had only ever needed it when Techno was still learning English and Tommy had been only five-years-old then. Even at that point, Technoblade knew how to speak well, but Tommy’s baby talk had been so incomprehensible that they had needed to teach the child so that Techno could understand.

“Are you sure, Tommy? It’s okay if it's too much.”

Tommy quickly signs back, _“No, I’ll be fine.”_

“Very well,” Phil concedes and begins threading his needle with twine, “It was about nine o'clock at night when I got the message from Bad…”

\--------------------------------------------

_Twelve Years Ago…_

The masked-teen stumbled through the dense dark forest, a nearly broken stone sword clutched in his fist. He leaped over a fallen log and dodged an arrow from a skeleton that whizzed past his ear.

This run was definitely one of his worst. Clay thought and scurried up a tall dark oak tree. He peered through the heavily opaque leaves, trying to glimpse a peek at his pursuers. Voices bounced off the trees and Dream paled, they were closer than he’d originally thought. The man lept from the tree, using a water bucket to cushion his fall, and took off once more.

In the distance, Dream could see light breaking through the tree, signaling the end of the forest. He ran towards it, desperately hoping it would lead into a plains or acacia biome. He’d almost broken free when he heard it.

A child. A human child, screaming at the top of their lungs. 

Dream didn't even have to contemplate the pros and cons of abandoning the run, he did it without thinking and immediately began following the voice. He hoped that he’d find the child before his friends found him. The kid’s cries were deafening, but they were hard to track thanks to the dense forest. He followed the cries for several minutes before he broke through a narrow clearing.

Dream’s green eyes widened behind his mask as he spotted a boy no older than four, perched up in a tree. At the base of the trunk was a lone zombie, growling and thrashing around trying to reach him.

The masked man whistled loudly, grabbing the attention of the zombie. The monster turned to look at Dream and quickly decided the man was a much better meal than the scrawny toddler. As the creature drew near, Dream crouched to the grassy floor and then lunged. He buried his blade into the zombie’s neck and didn’t bother to watch as it crumpled to the ground and died.

Now that the threat was gone, Dream turned to the child. The boy was still screaming and sobbing and Clay winced. 

_Damn, that kid has a set of pipes._

Dream cautiously moved to the base of the tree and tried his best to shush the child,

“Hey, kid! It’s alright, the monster’s gone.” The boy sniffled and wiped the snot that hung from his nose. Seemingly frightened by the man’s smiling mask he scrambled higher up the branches.

Clay sighed and unhooked the clasp that held the mask to his face. He let the ceramic hit the forest floor and looked at the boy.

“Look I’m human, see? Just like you, now come on down. There’s nothing to be scared of.” Dream assured him and the child looked warily at him before he finally began to descend the tree. 

Clay stretched his arms up to the child, who quickly decided that the man wouldn’t harm him. He leaped from the tree and Dream caught the blond toddler effortlessly.

He set the child on the ground gently and crouched down to his height.

“What’s your name, kid?” Dream asked. The boy tottered on his feet a moment before answering.

“Tommy!” The child proclaimed loudly and Clay smiled and ruffled his hair, "That's a super cool name, Tommy. My name is Dream."

The boy giggled at the name but replied with all the sincerity that a boy his age possessed, "Tats a weird name, mister."

“Where's your parents, Tommy? Did you get lost?”

The kid frowned at the question and shook his head sorrowfully, “Dey...Dey went away. Gone.”

Clay’s eyes shone and his chest felt tight, he understood the boy’s pain. His parents had left him three years ago to raise his baby sister on his own. It was only thanks to Sap, George, and Bad that they’d survived that first winter.

He was just about to express his condolences to the kid when said friends broke through the trees, murder clearly on their mind. Dream lunged at the child, scooping him into his arms as Bad swung at him.

Dream turned and yelled, panic lacing his voice as he dodged one of George's arrows, “Timeout, guys!”

Instantly, his friends ceased their attack and it was Sapnap who spoke first, “What the fuck, why? We totally had you!”

“Wait...is that a kid?” George asked, noticing the tuft of blond hair peeping from Clay’s arms.

“Holy shit, that’s a kid,” Sapnap affirmed to which Bad spun his head and hissed,

“Language! Not in front of the child!” 

“Pffft, it's never in front of anyone with you.” Sapnap chided and nudged the demon-hybrid in his side.

Tommy poked his head out of Dream’s arms and glanced at the puzzling array of people that were Clay’s best friends.

A blaze-hybrid, with a piece of white cloth tied around his head and golden eyes, a demon-hybrid who wasn’t nearly as terrifying as he looked, and a human with giant white glasses and short brown hair.

And then there was the man who’d rescued him, a tall blond-haired man donned in a bright green hoodie and a scary smiley-face mask.

Once Dream was certain that his friends weren’t going to attack him, he gently set Tommy onto his feet. 

Badboyhalo was the first person to immediately crouch to Tommy’s height and smile, “Hey there, little muffin. How’d you get all the way out here?”

Tommy shrugged and instead of answering the man’s question, decided to poke at one of the horns that jutted from Bad’s head. 

“Where’d you find the tot?” George asked as he moved to stand next to Clay. 

“He was all the way up in that tree, screaming at the top of his lungs. There was a zombie after him.” Dream stated and grabbed the bandages that George offered to him.

“He’s not bit is he?” Sapnap paled and crouched next to Bad. 

“No, he’s fine. Just startled.” Dream assured as he wrapped up his bloody forearm.

Tommy who was still enraptured with Bad’s horns smiled a wide toothy grin at Sapnap and proclaimed, “I twied to kill him but he was too fast. So I cwimbed the twee!”

“Well, aren’t you a brave little shit.” Sapnap said warmly and winced when Bad jabbed him in the side for his potty mouth.

Tommy giggled and jumped eagerly into Sapnap’s lap. Sap grunted but allowed himself to be examined thoroughly by the toddler. If the child was anything like his friends, then the kid could feel the heat that radiated off him. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the boy had snuggled into Sap’s chest.

“Well, that was fast.” Dream chuckled. 

“Everyone loves the human heater,” George added and patted Dream on the back before moving to sit in front of Sap.

“Where're his parents?” Bad asked, looking fondly at the boy who was quickly beginning to doze.

“Gone.” Dream shook his head sadly and Bad frowned.

“Well we can’t just leave him, can we?” George stated and gently tousled the toddler’s blond curls.

“Well, we can’t outright keep him! We’d never be home with him! Nikki is already getting tired of watching Drista all the time.” Dream protested, sitting next to George who was cooing at the toddler.

“Also I don’t think her majesty would like to have competition, she already has to fight George for your attention.” Sapnap teased, and George blushed at the comment. Bad thought for a moment, before his eyes, lit up at a solution.

“How about we all head back home and I’ll call Phil. He’s got two sons already, I’m sure he’d gladly accept a third. Besides, he looks about Tubbo’s age. I’m sure Jschlatt would love for his son to have a playmate.” 

The four friends looked at each other before turning back to Tommy. The boy had his thumb square in his mouth and was curled happily against Sapnap. They all smiled and nodded.

Thankfully the four hadn’t traveled too far from home and it was only an hour trek back to the village. They eagerly greeted their friends, each of which curiously inquired about the child. Punz in particular wondered if the child was a hybrid. Dream peered closely at the child sleeping in Sap’s arms and a raccoon was the first animal that came to mind.

_Maybe…_

But no, Skeppy was quick to shoot the possibility down. The kid didn’t even have ears. And if he was anything like little Fundy, then he would resemble a raccoon heavily. As they neared the inn that the four lived in, Dream chuckled at the sight of Drista, who had her face pressed against the window.

The girl waved excitedly at the sight of her older brother and Dream eagerly waved back. Bad tried to excuse himself from the group, stating that he had to check in a few customers and file some paperwork before he could call Phil. Skeppy brushed him off, telling him that he’d take care of it and to go ahead and let Philza know.

As they entered the inn that Bad and Skeppy ran, Clay was immediately tackled by his three-year-old sister. 

“Woah! Easy kid!” Dream whined but held Drista tightly in his arms. Sitting at one of the tables next to the fireplace, Jschlatt chuckled. A glass of booze, no doubt, sat half filled next to the goat-hybrid. 

“She’s been waiting for you all night, you know? Tubbo can only handle her for so long.” The toddler in question was sleeping soundly in his father’s lap and Clay smiled.

“Did woo bring me back anyting?!” The toddler questioned excitedly then shrieked when she saw Tommy snoozing in Sapnap’s arms.

“You brought me another, fwiend?!” Drista bounced up and down with insane energy that only three-year-olds had before she flew into Clay’s arms.

“Tank woo! Tank woo, Cway!!!” The girl yelled at a high enough pitch that both Tubbo and Tommy were startled from their slumber.

“Where are we?” Tommy mumbled against Sapnap’s chest, still trying to soak up as much warmth as he could from the blaze-hybrid.

“We are at Badboyhalo’s Inn, Tommy,” Sapnap stated and then set the child down onto the floor.

Tommy eyed Drista cautiously as she stalked towards him. When she stretched out her stubby arms at the boy, causing Tommy to hide behind Sapnap’s legs. Something devilish sparkled in Drista's green eyes and she smiled.

The chase was on.

Drista lunged for the boy and Tommy ran for his life, trying desperately to escape the crazed toddler. He ducked behind Jschlatt who merely opened his legs, revealing Tommy’s hiding spot. Jschlatt then set Tubbo on the floor, who blinked sleepily at his dad. 

Dream was quick to catch the hyperactive toddler, who fought harshly against him trying to reach the terrified boy.

“Alright little miss, it’s about time you got to bed. You can bug the boys tomorrow, okay?” Clay stated and Drista whined in his arms as she was carried away.

Happy that the crazy girl was gone, Tommy sighed and then finally noticed the other boy who was staring at him with wide blue eyes.

Jschlatt smiled fondly at his son and assured him, “It’s okay Tubs. He won’t hurt you.”

Tubbo scooted closer to the strangely feral child and chirped, “Do you like bees?”

Jschlatt practically roared in laughter and turned back to his drink.

Tommy smiled as he sat in front of the brunette, “I like bees!”

Tubbo grinned widely and proclaimed loudly for the room, “Then you my best friend, otay?”

“Otay!” Tommy agreed, his smile was just as infectious as his new friend.

“What’s you name? Mine’s Tubbo!” 

“I’m Tommy!” 

After that, the boys were inseparable for the rest of the night. Bad smiled from the front counter as he watched the toddlers work on Tubbo’s new block set. Tommy was trying to explain to Tubbo that a certain piece went this way, and Tubbo, not one to challenge others, agreed.

Bad grabbed his phonebook from the front desk and searched for the name of his longtime friend. He dialed it into the telephone, one that had been built carefully from redstone, and dialed Philza Minecraft.

Phil answered on the first ring, “Hey, Bad! _Techno put that down, it’s not a toy._ How are things at the inn? _Wilbur Soot Minecraft go brush your teeth right now, young man.”_

Bad chuckled as he heard the antics of Phil’s kids through the receiver and answered, “We’re all doing well! Skeppy won’t let me work too hard though, how are the boys?”

Philza sighed exasperatedly into the phone, “As troublesome as ever, what can I do for you?”

“Well--” Bad hesitated, unsure how to word it, “So Dream, Sap, George, and I were _out training_ when Dream found... an um..kid.”

“A kid?” Philza asked. “And does this kid not have a family?”

“No, from what he’s said they either abandoned him or they’re dead. How opposed are you against fostering him for the time being?”

Philza laughed, “You know me, Bad. The more the merrier. Is he at the Inn with you?”

“Yep, he’s already best friends with Tubbo. How soon can you get here?”

“We are already on the way, see you in a bit.” The line went dead before Bad could say goodbye and he smiled. What was he so worried about? Philza loves kids, of course, he’d be happy to take another one. Bad set the phone down onto the desk and walked merrily from the counter to where Tommy and Tubbo were playing.

Bad crouched next to the boys and joined into the play session all while informing Tommy of his new foster father, “So Tommy, as much as we’d love to keep you here at the inn with us. We--”

“You’re getting wid of me?” Tommy blinked up at him with tearful blue eyes. Tubbo’s eyes also went wide and he clung to his new friend, “No! Don’t take! My Tommy!”

“My Tubbo!” Tommy echoed back, wrapping his arms around the boy.

Bad shook his head, desperately trying to clear up the misunderstanding, “No no! Of course, we are not getting rid of you, Tommy! We already adore you! But...we wouldn’t be able to take care of you. That’s why my good friend Phil is going to look after you from now on.”

“Phil? So no more, Tubbo?” Tommy sniffled, “Me only want Tubbo!”

“Of course, you can see Tubbo whenever you want! Philza doesn’t live too far from here. He also has two kids of his own, Technoblade and Wilbur.”

“Echno and Wilby?” Tommy asked, his tiny blond eyebrows raising in interest.

“That’s right, Techno and Wilbur. They’re going to love you, Tommy.”

“And I still see Tubbo?” 

“You still see Tubbo.” Bad nodded and chuckled in delight when the boys cheered and hugged one another.

The door to the inn suddenly opened and Bad moved to greet Phil. The man in question had his wings out, protectively shielding his two boys from the rain that had suddenly begun on the journey there.

The three were quickly ushered into the Inn and Bad led them over to where Tommy was staring at them with interest and caution alike.

“Hello, Tommy.” Philza smiled and extended his hand out to the toddler. Tommy grabbed the giant hand with his tiny one and shook it with a goofy smile on his face. Phil laughed then motioned for his older boys to greet the child.

The tall brunette, who looked to be about twelve sat in front of the toddler and smiled, “Hey, Tommy. I’m Wilbur, and this is Technoblade. He doesn’t talk much but I know he’s happy to meet you.”

Tommy waved at the boys and then handed one of the blocks he’d been playing with to Techno.

Techno stared at the piece of plastic for a moment then smiled and sat down. The pink-haired pig hybrid signed something to Wilbur who nodded and said, “Techno wants to know what you’re building.”

“A castle!” Tubbo interjected and placed another block onto the ever-growing tower.

Techno nodded and smiled before saying softly, “Neat.”

“Echno! Put da piece here. Wilby takes dis.” Tommy babbled happily and placed a toy car into Wilbur’s hands.

Techno looked confused and Wilbur quickly pointed to the top of the tower. Technoblade nodded and placed the brick onto the tip of the tower. Suddenly the weight shifted and the whole thing came toppling down onto the four children. 

“Uh oh…” Tommy said and Techno flinched back harshly, looking upset.

Tommy quickly noticed and crawled into Techno’s lap. He hugged the boy and said, “It otay! We were gunna knock it ower!”

Wilbur signed Tommy’s message and Technoblade smiled and embraced the child.

From the counter, Philza sipped a mug of coffee and smiled to Bad, “Don’t worry about finding a permanent home for this one. We’ll keep him.”

\----------------------------------------------

“And that’s the end!” Philza smiles as he finishes wrapping up Tommy’s palm. The teen looks at him and smiles before he signs, _“I like that story.”_

“I’m glad, you ready for bed Tommy?” Phil asks and Tommy nods. Technoblade, who had been listening closely to the story, got up from his chair and hoists Tommy into his arms.

As he moves to the living room he flicks Wilbur on the forehead who snorts as he jolts from his doze. He palms at the growing red mark on his head and says, “Ow, you could’ve just said something.”

“Where is the fun in that?”

The family slowly settles into the living room, with Tommy curled up on Techno’s chest and Wilbur resting on the other side of the couch. Phil takes back his spot in the armchair and it is only when everyone was cozy that Tommy signs, _“So Dream wasn’t always a bad guy?”_

Philza sighs as he hunched his shoulders and looks sorrowfully at the floor, “Not when he was growing up. He was a good kid for a long time. I don’t know what changed.”

“It was like he just suddenly decided that power was more important than love,” Wilbur adds, also looking sad.

“I mean, look at Schlatt. The same thing happened to him. He loved Tubbo so much, and then one day…” Philza says mournfully.

“It happened to me too...but I was lucky and got a second chance.” Wilbur reaches out and tousles Tommy’s hair. 

“We all got a second chance, to be honest. We can be a family again, just like before.” Philza nods and pulls up his covers. The conversation slowly came to a close and as everyone fell asleep, but something inside Tommy burned.

_They left you._

_They left you to die._

_All of them left you._

_They just don’t want your death on their hands._

_How could they possibly love you?_

_They left you._

“They left me,” Tommy whispers brokenly against the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (YES I BORROWED BAD BEING AN INNKEEPER FROM ANOTHER FIC SUE ME)
> 
> (its just too perfect)
> 
> Inspiration Fic: teach me to fly, teach me to live by @always_an_anxious_mess
> 
> (its so good guys go read it pls)
> 
> ALSO FOR CLARIFICATION WITH THE EXCEPTION OF BAD the dream team are all young teenagers in the flashback. It just makes the time skip a bit less awkward since in reality Dream is like 6 years older than Tommy
> 
> Leave a comment if you enjoyed! I love hearing your feedback💕


	7. Where were you?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay, i got covid.
> 
> rip.

After that night, Tommy stops speaking altogether. 

_“Selective Mutism,”_ Technoblade had whispered to Phil after the third painfully silent night. It wasn’t as if Phil has never dealt with this from one of his kids before. No, Techno had gone through this as well when he’d first adopted him, but seeing it from Tommy is a huge red flag.

Tommy had always been their chatterbox, from the day Phil had brought him home from Bad’s Inn and onwards. The boy only ever stopped talking to catch his breath. The kid never had a filter and never knew when to shut up and that was one of the things Phil loved so much about him.

Now the house is silent, and uncomfortably so. There was no noise to fill the background as Phil, Techno, and Wilbur worked tirelessly to put the house back together.

Of course, no one dared to leave Tommy alone for more than a few minutes. Not even while the kid slept, someone was always awake to watch over him. Call them paranoid, but the three weren’t risking Tommy’s life again.

As the days passed in silence, a routine slowly formed. Tommy would begin his morning with Wilbur watching over him, the two would make breakfast for Techno and Phil and then Phil would take over so Wilbur could continue on reconstruction. Tommy and Phil would help Wilbur with the carpentry and construction of new window panes and bed frames until early evening. By that time, Technoblade had been up for a few hours and would watch Tommy for the rest of the night. 

Thankfully, what remained of Tommy’s fever from the small infection in his side had burned away during this time and slowly the boy grew stronger. And yet not a word uttered from his lips.

After a week of this perpetual silence, they ran out of stuff to fix and Phil knew he couldn’t keep delaying the conversation.

The family had just finished dinner and were silently washing the dishes together. Phil and Techno scrubbing, Wilbur drying, and Tommy putting the clean dishes away. They work amicably in silence until something in Wilbur finally snaps. 

The tall brunette spontaneously hurls a plate across the room in frustration, causing Tommy to flinch harshly as it shatters against the wall. Suddenly Wilbur falls to his knees in front of the teen and Tommy gasps as he saw the tears building up in his brown eyes. Wilbur takes Tommy’s hands in his own and begs,

“Please, Tommy. Please say something. I can’t take this anymore.”

Tommy stares at Wil with a startled expression and begins backing away involuntarily. He curls in on himself and Philza could see an unwelcome memory relaying itself behind Tommy’s eyes. Phil is quick to push past Wil, who hadn’t thought about the violence of his actions and was sorely regretting it, as he kneels in front of Tommy.

The teen's breath drew sharp with each intake growing shorter and shorter as the fear swells up in his chest. Phil had seen these reactions many times in all of his kids but they were different for every child.

And from what he could tell with Tommy, he was prone to freezing up. The boy draws a shuttered inhale as Philza sets his hands delicately on his shoulders, trying his best not to frighten him further.

“Easy, buddy. Deep breaths. It’s okay, you’re safe. Wilbur didn’t mean to scare you. Deep breaths.” Phil soothes. He begins heaving his chest dramatically trying to get Tommy to follow his rhythm, and thankfully the teen listens. After a few painfully long minutes of over-exaggerated breathing, Tommy's breathing slowly calms.

Phil sees the opportunity to say something before the moment is lost and takes it.

“Tommy, it’s about time we talked, don’t you think?” Phil begins and Tommy’s eyes shift nervously, “We miss you and your rowdiness.”

Tommy raises an eyebrow at him, doubting the statement. Phil chuckles, “I know, I know, but it’s true. I never thought I’d miss your voice so much.”

“I know these last few days have been rough and we should’ve talked about what happened last week, long before now. I know you might not want to tell us and _that’s okay._ But we can’t go on with the silence, Tommy.”

“We’re here for you, Tommy. _Always._ ”

Suddenly Tommy’s head shoots up and Phil knows he’d said something wrong. The teen glares at him with icy blue eyes and finally utters the first word he’d spoken in almost a week.

“ _Liar,”_ Tommy’s voice is hoarse, rusty from disuse but the statement sends waves of anguish through Phil.

“I’m not lying, Tommy. I’m not.” Phil pleads and Tommy jerks away from his touch. He stands to his feet and asks sharply,

“Where _were_ you?”

_What?_

Philza shakes his head, confused by the question. He stands to meet Tommy’s intense gaze, one laced with anger and hatred. The man pales, but answers softly, “I’m right here, Tommy. I’ll always be here for you.”

Tommy shoves the man backward and Phil is sent crashing to the floor, narrowly avoiding hitting his head thanks to Technoblade’s arm catching him.

“Tommy!” Wilbur scolds, but the boy didn’t back down and loomed furiously over the older man.

“Where _were_ you?!” Tommy asks again, his voice nearing a yell.

“I don’t know what you mean! I’ve been here the whole time!” Philza pleads and Tommy scoffs,

“I mean in my exile! Where _were_ you?!” 

_Oh._

Phil didn’t answer, bouts of shame well up in his chest. The lack of response only made Tommy angrier. The teen digs for something in his pocket and Philza yelps as the emerald he’d gifted to him was thrown in his face.

“I needed you,” Tommy mutters brokenly.

Philza clutches the emerald in his hand and climbs back to his feet, Technoblade assisting him as he stood. The older man takes a shaky breath as he tries to explain his absence.

“ _Tommy._ Wilbur, and Techno both needed me too. Wilbur wanted to be brought back and Techno needed my help... I didn’t mean to leave you alone...for so long.” 

Tommy digs his fingers into his hair as his frustration boils. He slams his injured fist angrily onto the table and spat, “Look I know Wilbur and Techno are your favorites and shit—“

“Tommy, no!” Phil denies it, tears welling up in his eyes.

“...but I’m your son too.” Tommy finishes and looks sorrowfully at his father.

Phil tries again to make Tommy understand, “Wilbur needed me, Tom—-“

“I NEEDED YOU!” Tommy screams as he smashes a nearby vase onto the floor. The azaleas that had been in the pot scatter across the ground, mixing in with the broken ceramic.

“AND YOU WEREN'T THERE!”

Phil couldn’t respond, the words he so desperately needed to get out were lodged in his throat. Tommy lets out a pained cry and says softly, not bothering to look his father in the eye.

“I was alone.” His voice cracks on the last word but he continues, “For weeks. I cried for you, _for all of you,_ to come and save me and you weren’t there.”

“I’m sorry,” Phil finally spoke, and he meant it, with his whole heart he was sorry. So _goddamn_ sorry.

Tommy laughs, it was cold and dead, “Do you know what the worst part is?”

“The fact that I know. _I know._ Wilbur told you where I was and even if he hadn’t? You and Technoblade didn’t even bother trying to find me.”

“We did!” Technoblade cuts in and steps in front of Phil. Tommy startles a bit but doesn’t back down, he merely raises a brow at the statement.

“Tommy, only Dream and Wilbur knew exactly where you were. And Wil couldn’t remember when we asked him. We tried!”

“No...no but Dream said—“ 

“Dream lied!” Technoblade yells back, emotion clogging his tone, “Phil and I spent _weeks_ looking for you! The only reason we stopped was because of Wil.”

“No, I sent all of you invitations to my party. I gave them to Wilbur, he should have given it to you.” Tommy hisses and begins to pace sporadically across the room.

Wilbur finally stands up and says softly, “Tommy. Dream took those from me.”

“ _What?”_ Tommy stops dead in his tracks to stare at his brother.

“He said he’d deliver them himself and, at the time, I had no reason not to believe him.”

“But, Dream is—was...my fri—...no no no, not true. Dream isn’t your friend. But he was so... _no!”_ Tommy mutters under his breath, his breathing beginning to spiral again. 

Wilbur strides quickly over to the boy and holds him tight in his arms.

“No, Tommy. Dream isn’t your friend. He’s a liar. A _liar,_ Tommy.”

Tommy jerks back from the embrace and his eyes shift wildly. Technoblade tenses suddenly, knowing what was about to happen.

“No, no you’re wrong, you have to be.” Tommy stammers incoherently and bolts from the room.

“Shit!” Technoblade releases Phil and takes off after him.

“He’s running! Phil come on!” Wilbur hooks his arm under Philza’s shoulder and pulls him along. It only took a moment for the older man’s thoughts to catch up with him before he's sprinting after Tommy as well.

—————————————————————

“Wake up. Please wake up.”

Ranboo mutters to the comatose president as he sits at his bedside. It had been over a week and a half since the courthouse had exploded and Tubbo still hadn’t woken up.

The boy’s cheeks were beginning to grow hollow from malnourishment and Ranboo’s hope was diminishing further and further. All he could do was give him ice cubes to keep him hydrated and obsessively change his head bandage every two hours.

Ranboo slams his fist against the wall as a choked sob tears through him. 

_This is all my fault._

A warm hand rests against Ranboo’s shoulder and he jolts from his thoughts. He looks up to the owner and sighs.

“It’s not your fault,” Fundy says gently as he sits next to the enderman-hybrid. “You were just following orders, no matter how idiotic they might have been.”

Ranboo lets out an empty chuckle but smiles nonetheless, “I just want him to wake up.”

“We all do,” Quackity’s voice rings out, and Ranboo turns to see him lurking in the doorway.

Ranboo gives the man a weak smile before turning his gaze back to the injured boy. They're beginning to run out of options. At first, their plan had merely been to let Tubbo awaken on his own, but any hope of that was fading by the minute. His condition is neither improving nor diminishing which made what they had to do next, their only choice.

The solution in question is in the shape of a teardrop. A ghast’s tear. Extremely difficult to come by unless you were good with a bow and are mainly used to make Potions of Regeneration. But they have one other use. When utilized in their primary form they can essentially be used to jumpstart someone’s brain and nervous system. If boiled down into a serum, the tear of a ghast could burn through Tubbo’s neurons and shock his brain out of dormancy. But that of course had risks. Terrible risks. 

If the user was not well enough to handle such a shock, it could leave them braindead and potentially cause an aneurysm in Tubbo’s brain. Or it could cause all the muscles in his body to seize up, including the ones in his throat, and Tubbo would suffocate to death. Ranboo had seen it happen before, _many_ times. 

Quackity walks over to Fundy and Ranboo and sets a vial and syringe into his hands. The enderman swallows and looks at Quackity with pleading eyes, “Are you sure there is no other way?”

Quackity shakes his head solemnly, “We’ve given him as much time as we could to heal, we are out of options. L’Manburg _needs_ their president.”

Ranboo sighs mournfully but nods, and he begins filling the syringe. He pulls back the plunger and watches as the silver fluid travels into the barrel. He flicks the small cylinder with his index finger, trying to rid it of bubbles before he grabs Tubbo’s motionless arm. 

He waits for a long moment, trying to give Tubbo an extra minute to miraculously awaken. Quackity clears his throat, clearly trying to speed up the process. Ranboo shoots him a cold glare for his lack of empathy as he injects the liquid into Tubbo’s arm. 

There's a long moment of complete silence as they wait for the serum to take effect. Ranboo can hear and feel his heart beating nervously in his chest, each thump of his heart seemingly growing louder as the minutes ticked by. 

Then the boy suddenly seizes up and Ranboo holds his breath. The arm on his shoulder tightens as Fundy gasps at Tubbo’s reaction. Ranboo reaches up to hold onto the fox-hybrid hand, patting it comfortingly as their president begins to seize violently.

Tubbo’s back arches wide and his fingers dig painfully into the cotton sheets. His entire body has tensed into one uncomfortable looking position and Ranboo bites his lip nervously. Tubbo’s arms shake with every painful heartbeat that thudded inside him and his toes curl and tense. A long and excruciating scream tears through the boy and Ranboo stifles a sob.

Watery bile begins to spill from Tubbo’s mouth and Fundy quickly shifts the president onto his side so that he wouldn’t choke. Once his stomach was completely empty, Tubbo begins heaving and retching, trying to dispel whatever had been injected into his veins.

Once he’d finished, the seizure begins again and Ranboo watches in horror as the teen’s body bends in angles that look near impossible to try to recreate, not that he’d ever want to. No, this was one memory that Ranboo would be overjoyed to forget.

Tears flow from the president’s cheeks as he sobs in agony and Ranboo wishes with every fiber of his being that he was the one with the ghast tear in his veins. Eventually, the seizures painstakingly subside leaving Tubbo’s body wrecked with sweat and tears.

Tubbo groans painfully as each individual muscle began to relax and he slides back down onto the bed. Relief claws through Ranboo's chest. 

He’d survived the first wave. The most deadly of them all.

The young president murmurs something incoherently and his dark blue eyes appear glassy and unfocused. Every now and then a random muscle would twitch that sent spikes of pain shooting through him.

Once he's certain the worst had passed, for now, Ranboo places a cool hand against Tubbo’s blazing forehead. Sweat drips off of the boy’s face but he smiles weakly and presses his face into the touch. A name slurs from Tubbo’s mouth that shocks him,

“Dad?”

Ranboo feels Fundy freeze up from behind him.

“Dad? I-Is...that y-you?” Tubbo mumbles, his eyes straining to open against the bright light of the makeshift hospital room.

Unsure of how to respond, but not wanting to upset the boy, (he has a feeling Tubbo won’t remember this anyway) Ranboo goes along with the slightly awkward scenario he’d wound up in, “Yeah, bud. I’m right here.”

Tubbo’s shaky smile widens and he stutters out weakly, “Y-you came...b-back. You...c-came back.”

“Of course I did, I’ll always be here for you, Tubbo. Always.” Ranboo says gently.

“I-i’m...sorry I-I lied to y-you...dad. So s-sorry.” Tubbo whimpers and Ranboo affectionately plays with the boy’s brunette curls.

“It’s okay, Tubbo. I’m not mad. Now go back to sleep, you need to rest.”

“Mm...kay...love you, d-dad,” Tubbo murmurs, his eyes fluttering shut as he quickly drifts off.

Ranboo stares at the boy with sad eyes and is about to pull away when he hears Fundy whisper, mostly to himself, “Schlatt loved you too, Tubbo.”

He may not have known Schlatt personally but he didn’t doubt the fox. Tubbo was ridiculously easy to love, it was just in his nature. But if he remembered correctly, Schlatt had ordered Tubbo’s execution, leading to the loss of one of his canon lives. He wondered how the relationship between the father and son had soured so drastically. Sure, it wasn’t any of his business, but Endermen were naturally curious.

“Is it...over?” Quackity says, his face wrought with tears. Ranboo’s frown softens. As much as Quackity can be an ass, he knew the man also has a soft spot for their young president. They all do.

_You’re not that much older than him, you know._

_Yeah, but those few months seem like years to me._

“He’s not out of the woods yet, but for now? It’s over.” Ranboo lets his head fall into his lap as he sighs in utter relief. Fundy pats his back comfortingly before he also lets out a sigh of his own.

“Now what?” Fundy asks once the three had collected themselves.

“Now we go get some rest,” Quackity states, his bossy demeanor returning as quickly as it had left. 

“I’ll stay here and watch over h—“ Ranboo begins but Quackity quickly cuts him off.

“ _Hell no._ You’ve been awake for like three days now, kid. **Go to bed.** I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Ranboo chuckles weakly but doesn’t argue. As he gets up from Tubbo’s side he briefly glances back at the boy and frowns.

Ghastly tears are unpredictable in the way they affect the human body. It takes about twenty-four hours for such a powerful serum to burn through the bloodstream and in that time anything can go wrong. Yes, Tubbo is no longer comatose but the repercussions of such a dangerous treatment had yet to appear. 

All they can do now is wait.

—————————————————————

_Liar._

_Liar._

_He’s lying to you, Tommy._

At this point, Tommy doesn’t know who the fuck is lying to him. 

He wasn’t trying to run away exactly, he just needed a place to calm down. Tubbo’s...er...Technoblade’s bee farm seemed as good a place as any. Thankfully he’d ducked into the cramped building before the rest of his family had burst through the front doors in hot pursuit of him.

Normally he hates tight spaces but the ever-present buzzing seemed to soothe the anxiety that bubbled up in his chest. It's almost loud enough to drown out the sounds of his family calling for him.

He’d feel bad about making them worry later, right now it's his turn to be selfish.

He just needs a minute, that's all. Just a minute to not think. A minute to be sixteen. A minute to be a child.

Is that so much to ask for?

With that thought, Tommy finally breaks down. Tears that have been building up for over a week and probably longer than that claw at his throat and spill over. It seems like his chest was swallowing him with how tight it feels. 

_It wasn’t fair._

_It wasn’t_ **_fucking_ ** _fair._

_I’m just a kid. I’m not a “big man” at all._

It had been a while since Tommy truly had let the events of _hell,_ the past year catch up to him. Wilbur’s death and spontaneous revival, Tubbo’s execution, the destruction of L’Manburg at the hands of his older brother, his brother’s insanity, his exile, _his manipulation, the loss of everything he’d loved._

And then somehow regaining it back.

Suddenly having his family back as nothing had changed was _too_ much.

_I don’t deserve this._

_I don’t deserve them._

They hadn’t lied at all. 

They still loved him and always had.

His family had never abandoned him. 

But that didn’t mean they hadn’t all fucked up at some point. 

_Technoblade tried to kill me with withers. Wilbur went insane and gaslighted me just like Dream had. Phil had been distant towards him after Wilbur’s death, almost ignoring him entirely._

Anger boils in his gut briefly but then he realizes that he hasn’t been entirely free of the blame. Technoblade had only tried to harm him because he’d lost control, Tommy had pushed him after all. Wilbur went insane, of course. But his brother had been trying to make up for it ever since. And as for Phil? Tommy had ignored him just as much, it was only when he’d been exiled that he’d even thought about his father.

And even if they hadn’t been there for him before, they were here for him now. 

Unconditionally. 

Tommy has a chance, a _real_ chance, to have a family again. To go back to how it was when he was young before Wilbur had dragged him off into war and Technoblade had _left_.

Tommy knows Dream fucked him up badly. For fuck’s sake the man had convinced him to try to take his life pretty easily. He knows it will be a while, a _long_ while before he's better. Shouldn’t he at least give his family a chance?

His sobs are growing louder and while Tommy does his best to stifle them, it isn’t long before he is found.

The door to the bee farm opens and instinctively Tommy backs himself into a corner. Wilbur’s face peers inside and he easily spots his younger brother curled up. His face sags in relief and he turns and yells,

“Tech! Dad! I found him!” Wilbur turns back to him and stretches his arms out to him, “Are you going to come here, or am I going to have to come and grab you myself?”

A part of him, the normal Tommy, wanted to be a shithead and make him come to retrieve him. But that Tommy was buried deep inside him, only just starting to peek back out. So Tommy crawls over to Wilbur and lets his eldest brother pick him up.

Wil holds Tommy close to his chest, letting a hand bury itself into Tommy’s hair. He shakes the boy gently and scolds him softly, “Please stop running off, you’re going to give Phil a heart attack.”

Tommy chuckles and uses the sleeve of his red sweater to wipe away his tears.

Wilbur smiles and whispers, “I also liked hiding in the bee farm too. The old one, remember?”

The old house, the one his family had grown up in, had a bee farm that had been twice as large as the one Technoblade has currently. 

Tommy nods, “Yeah, I remember we would put honey into Techno’s shampoo bottles and he’d get super pissed.”

Wilbur laughs and hugs the boy, “I love you, little brother. And I’m sorry. Truly. For... _gods—..._ fucking _everything.”_

Tommy nods and hugs his brother back, “I love you too, Wil.”

“You found him?!” A panicked voice draws near and Tommy turns from Wilbur’s arms to see Technoblade and Philza sprinting towards the brothers.

Tommy’s breath sticks in his throat as the light from the torches slowly illuminates his father’s face. It's puffy and red from crying and Tommy’s heart clenches painfully in his chest.

Wilbur gently sets Tommy to his feet and the boy freezes in his tracks as he makes a decision. He's still mad at his father for the past year, his absence had driven a rift between the two that would take a long time to heal. But at the same time, he knows that Phil is trying to fix what he’d broken.

So that is why Tommy decided to run headlong into his father’s arms, burying his face into the crook of his father’s neck. 

Philza’s breath hitches tight in his throat, shocked beyond words. He’d expected many things to happen when they found Tommy. But being hugged by his youngest son was definitely not one of them. 

Did this mean that Tommy had forgiven him? No. But it didn’t matter. Because Phil was still his father and Tommy needed his dad right now.

Phil lets out a shaky exhale as he crushes his son to his chest.

“Please. _Please._ Don’t ever doubt how much _I love you_ , Tommy. Because, gods, I do. I love you just as much as Wilbur and Techno. Just as much.” Phil murmurs into Tommy’s hair, sobs ripping through him.

“Okay. I won’t, I promise.” Tommy swears, clutching his father closer, “I love you too, dad.”

“I’m sorry, Tommy. I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’d give anything to have been able to protect you, son. _Anything._ ”

Tommy’s breath shudders in his throat as waves of grief rip from his chest. He’d never cried so much in one day before. He nods into his chest and let his fingers further dig into his father’s yukata.

As the night drew near and the monsters began to peek out from their caves, Carl begins to whine from his pen. Technoblade takes that as a signal to start herding his family back inside. Philza nods, noting Techno’s concern, and gently lifts his youngest son into his arms.

Tommy’s throat tightens, it had been a long time since his father had carried him. It had been a long time since any of his family had carried him, though lately, it was becoming almost routine at this point. He supposes it's happening more often due to the weight he’d lost during his exile and sickness, he's lighter than he’d been when he was thirteen. Though something in the back of Tommy’s mind eggs that it might be a much more emotional reason.

Normally, Tommy hates being carried. It makes him feel like his family is babying him. He recalls when he was around eight-years-old he’d finally put his foot down and demanded his family stop picking him up all the time. He remembered his father had laughed and agreed, but it still didn’t stop Wilbur from chucking him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes five minutes later.

Yes, normally Tommy hates being carried. But, he supposes he'd allow it for right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 10000 hits! Holy crap, you guys:)
> 
> Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it! Hopefully, it will speed up my recovery.


	8. The Voices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all i know how to write is angst apparently. shit my bad
> 
> there's fluff if you look REAL close
> 
> rip to any spelling errors you find I haven't slept in 32 hours. gnight

As the tiny family slowly makes their way back into the house, something small and fragile chips at Technoblade’s boot.

He stops and kneels to examine the object, waving his family off into the house when they also pause to see what had caught his attention. He carefully uncovers the tiny object that had been buried in a thick layer of snow and picks it up.

Technoblade’s heart jolts in his chest at the sight of the empty potion bottle. A sense of unease floods through him. He always makes sure to properly wash and reuse his bottles, so finding an empty one right next to the house is concerning.

He pockets the bottle and begins digging around in the snow. His unease transforms into pure terror when multiple empty potion bottles are uncovered, all of them sporadically strewn about the lawn. Technoblade grabs one of them and sniffs, his stomach sinking when the faint scent of a fermented spider eye tickles his nose.

Now he's certain, his family is no longer safe here. 

Quickly, Technoblade rushes into the house and begins rummaging through his chest. He prays to the gods that he still has it, even after all these years.

“What is it, Techno?” Wilbur asks, standing up from the armchair. 

_Leave. Leave. Leave. Not safe. Not safe. Not safe._

The voices are screaming at Techno and making it very difficult to hear what his family is asking him. His fist closes around a partially destroyed map and he sighs. 

_Thank the gods. It’s still here._

He turns and nearly jumps out his skin when Wilbur stands a mere meter away from him. His older brother also startles from Technoblade’s own scare and stumbles back a few feet.

From the corner of his eye, Technoblade can see his father carefully setting Tommy onto the couch before rushing to his side. Phil places a warm hand on Technoblade’s shoulder and eyes the map in his hand.

“Son, what is it? Why do you need that?”

Technoblade fishes the empty bottle from his pocket and with shaky hands, he gives it to his dad. Phil’s eyes widen in horror at the sight but he's still able to calmly ask,

“Are we no longer safe here, Techno?”

“No. No, we are not, dad,” Technoblade says, his voice wobbly as he eyes a tuft of blond hair peeking out from over the couch.

“Is that what I think that is?” Wilbur asks and gently takes the map from him. He spends a long moment studying it before raising his eyebrows and asking, “I thought the old home was gone? Raiders destroyed it years ago.”

“It was, but I surveyed it a few months ago. It’s long-abandoned now, and the framework is still holding steady. A small farming village has even sprung up nearby,” Phil turns to Techno and inquires, “It would take weeks to rebuild entirely, and it’s closer to L’Manburg than this home. Are you sure Techno?”

Technoblade nods “Dream has only ever been there a few times and wouldn't expect that we'd ever return there since it was destroyed. It was always well hidden, thanks to the forest. I can move Carl there first, tonight if possible, and then the three of you can travel using invisibility potions in the morning.”

“If it isn’t as sturdy as we thought then we can spend a few nights in Pogtopia, it’s only a mile from there,” Wilbur adds, completely unfazed by the mention of his old exile home.

“Wait, what’s this about the old house?” Tommy’s head pops up from the couch and blue eyes bore into Technoblade.

Techno smiles softly, “I think it’s time we bailed on this home, Tommy. It’s getting a bit too cramped here with four people.”

Tommy’s eyes sparkle, “We’re going home? Like home-home?”

“Home. Home.” Wilbur smiles. “Wait, dad, was the barn still there?”

“I believe so, a bit scorched from a forest fire a few years back, but nothing that can’t be fixed.”

“ _Fuck yeah!_ ” Wil pumps his fist into the air and cheered, “Let’s go sheep farm! Friend can finally have his own pen!"

“Oh right, I’ll need to move Friend when I take Carl there as well.” Techno palms at his face, it was a lot more difficult to move a sheep than a horse. He’d need to pack a boat and a lead for the trip.

“Does this mean, we don’t have to sleep on the couch anymore?” Tommy asks sheepishly. Philza burst into laughter, leaning heavily on Techno who was also snorting back a guffaw.

“Yes, Tommy, no more couches. Though you will be rooming with Wilbur, that is non-negotiable, understand?” Philza adds sternly and Tommy ducks his head, murmuring under his breath.

“But I had my own room there…”

Wilbur’s gaze softens and he gently pats his younger brother’s shoulder, “Sorry, Tommy. It’s not meant to be a punishment. We just want to make sure you’re safe.”

Tommy pouts, crossing his arms like a child would as he grumbles, “But Techno gets his own room! That’s not fair!”

“Technoblade keeps knives and wither skulls in his closet, Tommy. Of course, he gets his own room.” Wilbur chuckles and gently tousles the boy’s hair, “You never even used your old room, anyway. You’d always end up crawling into one of our beds in the middle of the night.”

Tommy flushes and bats away Wilbur’s hand, “I did not! I’m not a baby!”

“Did too, I distinctly remember waking up every other morning to find a mess of blond hair poking out from under my covers,” Technoblade cuts in, he grabs the rubber band around his wrist and quickly puts his hair up into an unkempt ponytail.

“Fuck you guys.” Tommy blushes and then buries his face into a nearby pillow. As Wilbur begins poking at his younger brother’s sides, trying to make him laugh, Philza and Technoblade talk about how to safely move into their old home without being spotted.

“As much as I would love to protect the three of you as you travel, I don’t think it’ll be possible with Carl and Friend. I want you to lead Wil and Tommy through the spruce forest, and look for the sewer tunnels that Tubbo built.”

“I thought the sewer only stretched out to the sea?” Phil asks, smiling at the sight of Wilbur mercilessly tickling Tommy, who was cursing loudly at him.

“I ended up extending it out so I could travel to L’Manburg faster. Though with Carl and Friend, it’ll be easier to boat there so I can avoid L’Manburg entirely. But, you three will have invisibility potions on so you won’t need to worry about being spotted. There is an exit underneath Tubbo’s bee farm, take it and head west until you reach the walls. I want you to then head to Pogtopia and we will rendezvous there, okay?”

“Are you leaving, now?” Tommy asks, and Wilbur is on the floor groaning from where he’d been punched in the stomach.

“Yes,” Technoblade says bluntly as he started to rummage through his chest looking for supplies.

“Can I--” Tommy begins, and he's quickly cut off.

“ **No.** ”

“Aw, why not!? I can protect you, Carl, and Friend! I’ll use invisibility pots! Please let me come with you!” Tommy begs as he leaps over the couch to where Techno is.

“I can’t protect all three of you! You’d only slow me down!” Technoblade hisses in annoyance.

Tommy flinches at the harsh tone and Techno sighs, “I’m sorry, Tommy. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that I’d end up being worried about you the entire time.”

The boy huffs, his eyes still sparkle with hurt from the previous jab, but he doesn’t give up, “I’m strong! You know that I am! Plus, no one would suspect that I tagged along. If anything, they’d assume I went with Phil and Wilbur.”

Technoblade goes silent at that. He has to admit, the kid has a point. As far as everyone knows, Tommy is still in exile. Only Dream, and maybe Tubbo, know that he is living with Technoblade. As far as they can tell, Tommy hates his older brother and wouldn’t be caught dead with him after what happened at the festival and the destruction of L’manburg.

So it would make perfect sense for Tommy to travel with Technoblade. He’d arguably be safer with him, anyway. 

Technoblade sighs and lets his head fall into his hands. His hands slide down his face as he groans, “Fine, you can come with me.”

“FUCK YEAH!” Tommy cheers and performs a rather stupid little victory dance for himself. One that Technoblade couldn’t help but chortle at.

“Alright, alright, Theseus. Go out on some warm clothes and then come right back downstairs to help me pack, okay?”

“You got it, big man! You won’t regret this!” The teen runs up the stairs and Technoblade smiles as he noticed the spring in his step. It's a welcome sight after all the hardships of the past two weeks.

Once Tommy is out of earshot, Philza turns to him and speaks in a low voice, “Technoblade I need you to do me a favor when you’re traveling with Tommy.”

“What is it?” Techno asks, confused about what his father could possibly want from him.

“There’s no simple way to put this so I’ll just say it, I don’t believe that Tommy was alone on that tower.”

“What do you mean, who could have been up there with him?” Wilbur cuts in, finally picking himself up from the floor.

“We scoured that tower afterward, there was no sign that anyone but Tommy had been up there,” Technoblade adds, but Philza shakes his head.

“Someone could of easily ender pearled off. Besides don’t you find it odd that the day prior to Tommy’s...attempt...,” Philza swallows, clearly distressed at the memory of the awful day. “...He was perfectly fine? He was happy, almost. What could have caused such a drastic change?”

“Tommy could have easily been hiding his distress,” Technoblade argues and begins quickly filling a backpack with supplies for the journey.

“You know better than to believe that. Tommy’s always been open about his emotions.”

“Not recently, no. The kid’s taken a page out of my book. He’s been almost impossible to read as of late.” 

Philza sighs, growing impatient at his son’s arguing, “Will you just _trust me?_ Look, I can’t shake this suspicion. It’s been eating away from me every since Tommy jumped. Something _happened_ on that tower. I just know it. Please, talk to him.”

“I don’t know why you’d think I’d be able to pry something like that from him, but I’ll try. If not for Tommy’s sake then for yours, okay?” Technoblade relents, finally, and closes the first backpack. He swings the bag over his shoulder just as Tommy bounces back down the stairs, a smile plastered to his face.

He jumps over the final step and lands a bit wobbly at Techno’s feet. Tommy opens his mouth to say something, then suddenly closes it. The teen froze for a moment, and Technoblade could see a war raging behind his eyes. He finally signs to Techno, “ _Ready to go!”_

Technoblade clenches his fist. He notices Wilbur’s eye twitching out of the corner of his eye and he quickly shoots him a warning glare. He then turns back to his younger brother who's looking at him a bit sheepishly and then signs back,

“ _Here take this,”_ Techno chucks an empty rucksack at Tommy, who easily catches it. “ _Fill it up with a few potions, some gaps, and here take your dagger.”_

He is in the process of handing it to Tommy when Philza’s hand shoots out and grabs Technoblade’s wrist. Tommy stares at him with a hurt gaze that Phil easily mirrors. His father pauses for a long moment and looks deep into the eyes of his youngest son. He eventually sighs and pries the dagger from Techno.

With shaky hands, he hands the weapon to Tommy. The boy eagerly grasps the handle and smiles softly, whispering quietly, “Thanks.”

“Don’t make me regret that, okay?” Phil winces and retracts his arm.

“You won’t,” Tommy murmurs, almost inaudible, but Phil’s ears easily pick up on it.

“You ready to go, Theseus?” Technoblade asks, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Tommy chuckles and signs so quickly Technoblade almost didn’t catch it,

“ _You’re the only person in the world who can get away with calling me that.”_

“Yeah, I’m ready” He adds after his hands have stopped spasming.

As the two head out the door, Wilbur quickly races ahead of them. He grabs both his brothers by their shoulders and pulls them tightly against him, whispering fondly, “Be safe you two. I better not be an only child in the morning.”

Technoblade pulls away from the hug first and quickly shoves Wilbur’s beanie over his face, “Not likely, Wil.”

Wilbur bats the hand away and quickly fixes his beanie before he is quickly pulled back into the hug by Tommy. The teen mutters into his ear, “Love you, Wilby. Be safe, okay?”

“HE CALLED ME WILBY!!! Dad! Did you hear it?!” Wilbur yells enthusiastically and Tommy swiftly pulls away from the hug to playfully punch him in the arm.

“I did not!” Tommy refutes, flushing heavily.

“Alright, alright. Easy you two.” Philza steps in and wraps all three of his sons into his arms.

“We’ll meet in Pogtopia in approximately seven hours, got it?”

“Yes, dad.” The three say in unison and Phil laughs, ruffling the hair of his youngest. Techno and Wil pull away from the hug to say their own goodbyes to one another. 

Phil looks down at his son, he’d grown tall in his exile. He's nearing his own height. Surely by next year, he would sprout up far above him. Gods know, Techno and Wil already have. He pulls back and lets his hands rest atop his shoulders.

“Listen to Technoblade, okay? I know you’re the most stubborn out of all of us and hate being told what to do, but please, listen to him.” Phil breathes deeply and Tommy can tell he had more rules to give.

“Look, I know you’re prone to running off, especially lately. If for any reason you run off please for the love of Notch, tell us where you’re going. We will try to stop you of course, but as you’ve probably gathered, we’re shit at catching you. We won’t get mad, I promise. We—I need to know where you are. I can’t lose you, Tommy. Not again. Not ever again.”

Tommy nods after a long moment, but Phil still looks doubtful.

“Promise me.”

Tommy looks up at him. And Phil can tell he's debating in his head. Finally, after what seems like an eternity of silence, he speaks.

“I promise, dad.”

Phil smiles and pulls the boy back into his arms, hugging him tightly to his chest. “I love you, kiddo. I’m going to be saying that a lot more from now on, so get used to it.

Tommy laughs against his chest and Phil can hear him mutter against his shirt, “I love you too, dad.”

“Alright, hug time is officially over. We need to head out before dawn breaks, any day now you two.” Technoblade yells from the front steps. Tommy flips off his older brother, causing muted chuckles to echo from the porch. He squeezes his father tight for one more moment before he lets go.

Tommy signs a peeved-off message to his brother, “ _Then get off your bony fucking arse and let’s go!”_

_“Who you calling bony? You look like a half-eaten chicken.”_ Techno signs back and Tommy laughs spitefully.

From behind the house, Wilbur appears with Friend in tow. The blue sheep nuzzles his face into Wil’s side as they come to a halt and the lanky man hands the lead over to Technoblade.

“I know, bud. I’ll miss you too. Don’t worry, Friend. You’ll see me in a few hours, okay?” 

The sheep let out a characteristic _baah_ and Wilbur and Friend stare at one another for a somewhat unnerving amount of time before the sheep finally huffs and walks over to Techno.

“Don’t worry, Friend. You’re in good hands.” Technoblade says and gently rubs his head. The sheep gives the piglin an affectionate _baah_ as Techno lifts Friend onto Carl’s back. 

The horse turns his head, eyes sparkling at the sight of his favorite sheep. Friend pushes his face into Carl’s mane as he settles down into a comfortable and stable position. Techno turns and chucks a bottle at Tommy, who barely catches it in time.

“Go ahead and chug that, it’s time to go.”

Tommy nods and quickly downs the invisibility potion, and then slowly disappears from sight.

“Are you going to be able to keep up with me on that leg, or do you want to hop on with Friend?”

Tommy begins to sign out his response and then facepalms when he remembers that he's invisible.

“I’ll walk for now. If my ankle starts to hurt, I’ll let you know.”

“Alright, stay close okay? Don’t let me lose sight of the particles.” Techno states as they begin their trek into the woods. Tommy walks backward for a moment so he could watch Phil and Wilbur go back inside. Once they were safely indoors and out of sight, he turns back around.

They are about halfway through the forest when Technoblade breaks the silence.

“Tommy, can you get on Carl?”

Tommy raises an eyebrow, quizzically before asking, “What for? My ankle feels fine?”

“It’s just in case we get overrun by mobs. I want you and the animals to be able to get away quickly.”

“Oh, alright.” Tommy agrees and hoists himself onto Carl’s back. He moves Friend, who is now snoozing quietly into his lap. His brown eyes peer up at him confused for a moment before he realizes it's only Tommy. The sheep snuggles into his lap before drifting off again.

As Technoblade leads Carl through the forest in silence, with only a lantern to guide their way, the voices decide it was the right time to start reminding him of his promise.

_Technotalk. Talk to Tommy. You promised. Technotalk._

Technoblade winces at the volume, stopping briefly to shake his head. Tommy, who had been dozing softly, his head buried in Friend’s fur jolts up at the sudden stop.

“Tech? What is it?” He asks his voice echoing softly off the trees.

“We...we need to talk, Tommy. I promised dad that I’d try.”

“What do you mean? What did you promise him?”

_Gods, how do I word this?_

“Let’s play a game, Tom.”

_Fucking nailed it._

“Wha…?” Tommy squeaks, surprised at the sudden suggestion.

“Let’s play twenty questions. Trust me, this is the only way I can make my point.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Tommy asks, irritation lingering in his voice.

“You go first, ask me something. Anything you want, and I promise I’ll answer truthfully.”

He can almost hear Tommy’s brain-frying with all the unanswered questions bouncing around in his head. Thankfully the kid starts with something easy.

“Alright, is my name actually Theseus? Have I been calling myself the wrong name my whole life?”

Technoblade laughs, “Nah, your name is Thomas. I wanted to name you Theseus though but Phil wouldn’t let me.”

“Oh thank fuck.” Tommy breathes out a sigh of relief.

“Hey there is nothing wrong with Theseus, it’s a kickass name.”

“Says the man named Technoblade.” Tommy teases.

“Precisely, my name fucking rocks. Okay, my turn.”

He can feel the nervous energy radiating off of Tommy so he too decides to start with an easy question.

“Where’d you get that busted compass?”

He hears something clinking and turns to see the broken compass floating in what he assumes is Tommy’s hand.

“Wilbur...er...Ghostbur gave it to me. It used to point to where Tubbo was at all times.”

“That’s pretty cool, Tom. I’ll make sure to fix it, I promise.”

“Thanks,” Tommy whispers before pocketing the compass once more. 

“Alright, your turn. And by the way, when I said you could ask me anything, I meant that.”

“Alright, then tell me. Why did you try to kill me the day Will blew up L’Manburg?”

_Wow. Straight to it, then._

Technoblade sighs and presses his fingers against his temples, “I-I...I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“If I remember correctly your exact words were ‘You want to be a hero, Tommy? Then die like one.”

“Yes, that’s true. I did say that. But you need to know I wasn’t myself when I did that.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know I hear voices, right?” Technoblade stops and turns to where he assumes his brother is.

“I do.”

“They get very loud sometimes, it feels like my brain is melting when they scream. And they were screaming that day. I gave into what they demanded the day we lost Wilbur. I saw that sword go through my older brother and I just lost it.”

“So you tried to kill your other brother?”

“You weren’t my target. I was angry at you, of course. But the person I am normally would never hurt you no matter what. I lost my mind and it took me weeks to get it back.”

“So you don’t want me dead?”

“You know damn well I’d let myself die before I’d let harm come to you.”

“Oh…” Tommy goes quiet for a long time. They are setting up the boats when the boy speaks again.

“Your turn.”

_This is it. Now’s the time._

“Tommy, before we left the house. Phil wanted me to ask you something.”

“What is it?” Tommy’s first potion has worn off and he is just about to down the second.

“Who was with you on that tower?”

—————————————————————

“ _Ran...Ran..._ RANBOO!”

Ranboo jolts away, sitting up at lighting speed. The lanky enderman-hybrid groans when his forehead smacks against Fundy.

“Ow...what the heck, dude?” Ranboo winces, rubbing the darkening mark on his head. The fox had fallen over from the force but quickly springs back up to his feet and began harshly tugging on his arm, practically dragging him off the bed.

“What? What! Fundy, stop it!” Ranboo shoves Fundy back and rubs his still sleep-ridden eyes.

“Tubbo’s waking up! Get the fuck up!”

Ranboo is suddenly wide awake. The ender man throws on a sweatshirt that was crumbled in the ground from last night and bolts after the fox.

He nearly skids into the wall with how fast he's sprinting, his long legs are not fit for tight corners.

Ranboo trails behind Fundy as they burst into Tubbo’s room. He looks at the tiny figure on the bed and it feels like the weight of the world had been lifted from his chest

Tubbo is sitting up in his bed, looking pale and weak but very much alive. But the boy doesn’t seem to notice his extremely loud entrance. The president doesn’t even acknowledge his presence.

Ranboo frowns and draws near, sitting down next to Tubbo. Now that he's next to him, Ranboo takes a closer look at the president. His stomach sinks.

Tubbo is staring down at an object clutched tightly in his palm. An anguished expression engraved into his delicate features. Ranboo peers over the boy to see what had grabbed his attention.

Sitting in Tubbo’s palm is a compass. Tommy’s compass if he remembers correctly. The one that specifically points directly to Tommy at all times. The glass on the compass has cracked perfectly down the middle and the arrow is spinning wildly. A pained gasp lodges in Ranboo’s throat as the pieces came together.

It seems it is no longer able to find its target.

—————————————————————

“Who was with you on that tower?”

_No. No, you can’t ask that. You can’t._

So Tommy lies.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t bullshit me, Tommy. I can tell when you're lying.”

**_You were alone._ **

“I was alone.”

“Stop lying,” Technoblade says sharply. 

**_You’re not._ **

“I’m not.”

“I don’t believe you.”

**_Why?_ **

Tommy kicks at the boat Technoblade is setting up and he grips tuffs of his hair tightly in his fists.

“Stop. Just let it go.”

**_Don’t tell him. Do not tell him._ **

“I can’t Tommy. Someone made you jump off that tower.”

“No! I chose to kill myself! No one was with me!”

“That doesn’t make sense, Tommy,” Technoblade says calmly, and places the oars into the boat.

“Why does it matter?”

“Tommy, I know you. You were recovering and improving miles each day. Then suddenly I wake up and find you standing on the top of that _goddamn_ tower.”

**_He lies._ **

“You don’t know shit about me.”

“Kid, I know it hurts. I know you want to bury that memory so far down that it never bubbles to the surface. But, _Theseus._ ” Technoblade stands and grabs Tommy’s shoulders. The teen flinches but allows the touch. Techno places a hand against his tear-stained cheek.

**_He lies._ **

_Is he?_

“No matter how far you bury it. It won’t stop hurting. But if you tell someone? If you tell me? I can promise you, that it will get better.”

Tommy looks up to his older brother and lets his hands fall limply to his sides. He swallows a sob and signs, “ _What if it doesn’t? What if it gets worse?”_

“It won’t, not if I have anything to say about it. Now, Tommy, twenty questions remember?”

Tommy nods tearfully.

“Were you alone on that tower?”

The long moment of silence that follows feels eternal until finally, Tommy shakes his head, then lets it fall against his chest. 

“Who was it?” Techno asks, fighting like hell to keep the raging inferno burning in his chest from his tone.

Tommy snaps his head up and looks straight into his eyes. The boy whispers brokenly, “You know who it was.”

Technoblade lets go of Tommy’s shoulders and backs away. He turns so his back was facing him so that Tommy couldn’t see the anger, the pure fiery fury that was beginning to consume him. 

Tommy watches in fright as Technoblade violently punches a tree. He hears loud cracking and assumed it's the bark caving beneath his brother’s fist.

The man stands there a long time with his fist buried into the broken bark until finally, Tommy has no choice but to go to him. He knew they couldn’t stay here any longer, it was too dangerous.

He trods carefully as he slowly walks towards him. As he draws near his older brother he notices that he isn’t standing still at all. His shoulders are shaking and Tommy can hear sniffles and muffled sobs coming from him.

Technoblade was crying.

Tommy reaches out his hand and stumbles backward when Techno whips around towards him. Finally, he can see his face.

Techno’s eyes are puffy and red from crying and Tommy can see his hands are shaking. His brother looks down at the snow-covered ground, his face burning with shame.

“Techno?” Tommy asks gently. His brother doesn’t respond. As much as he wants desperately to comfort Technoblade, there isn’t time. They need to go, dawn would be here in a few hours. They don’t have a lot of time.

“Techno, we gotta go,” Tommy whispers. Techno stares blankly at him and the teen sighs. 

_I guess I’m doing this myself._

He grabs his older brother’s hand and slowly leads him to the boat. He then loads Friend into Techno’s lap. Tommy climbs into the boat and shoves the end of Carl’s lead into his mouth.

He begins rowing across the sea as quickly as he can without straining Carl. Thankfully the horse was a trooper and does everything he could to make Tommy’s job easier. 

It takes over an hour, but finally, they arrive. Carl sluggishly clips onto the sand, looking as exhausted as Tommy. The teen turns and struggles to get Friend onto Carl’s back. Thankfully the horse notices his struggle and kneels down to make it easier.

Tommy smiles as Friend is successfully loaded up. He reaches into his rucksack and grabs a golden carrot for Carl to munch on. He needs the horse to be at his best, just in case Techno collapses. Carl whinnies weakly at the treat and scarfs it down immediately. 

It takes a moment for the carrot to kick in but soon Carl is back to his old self. The horse turns his head to Technoblade and begins harshly shoving his snout against his chest. Technoblade doesn’t respond at first, merely allowing the horse to smack him around.

However, after several minutes Technoblade seems to groggily begin to come back. Suddenly, his nose begins bleeding and Tommy shoots up from the sand. He shoves a rag harshly against his older brother's face and somehow it seemed to snap Techno out of it.

His older brother blinks at him and then performs a full rotation, taking in his new location. Eventually, his gaze stops at Tommy, who is still trying to stop the blood that was gushing out of his nose.

The man raises his arm to Tommy’s hand and carefully pries the rag from his fingers. He holds the handkerchief to his nose and asks in a slightly slurred voice, “How long was I out?”

Tommy falls to his knees, causing Technoblade to follow. Tommy holds his head in his hands and blurts out, “Please don’t ever do that again. You scared the _shit_ out of me!”

Technoblade chuckles weakly and helps his brother back to his feet. As soon as they are both standing firmly on solid ground, Tommy launches himself into his arms.

“I fucking hate you.” Tommy whimpers.

“Sorry, Theseus. I love you too.” Technoblade lets his cheek rest against Tommy’s curls. The moon is still high in the sky as the two hug next to the lonely beach. Somewhere in the back of Tommy’s mind, he thought that perhaps he isn’t the only one in his family that is in desperate need of therapy.

Maybe they all are just inherently fucked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had to cut the chapter in half because it was going to end up being WAY too long. I kinda ended the chapter in a weird spot, sorry.
> 
> also techno and tommy are terrible at comforting ppl
> 
> PLEASE leave a comment if you enjoy! I love reading them! Please don't feel nervous about writing one!


	9. A Promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dude i read a fanfic where wilbur died and now I'm sad.
> 
> i wont tell you which one because I don't want to spoil it for others
> 
> SO TAKE SOME ANGST
> 
> [EDIT: So I've decided to go back through all of the chapters and make everything present tense rather than the past tense format I've been writing in. This is only because I have sometimes written in the present tense in a couple of the chapters and its been bugging me. The only exception to this will be flashback and dreams THEY WILL ALWAYS BE IN PAST TENSE.]
> 
> [DOUBLE EDIT: Do you guys prefer me calling Wilbur, "Will" or "Wil"? If you guys like the second option I'll start editing that as well]

Tommy was dead. TommyInnit _is_ dead. The revelation makes Ranboo’s head spin with grief. He didn’t understand. Philza was supposed to save him, he was supposed to keep him safe. There was no memory of a death message ever appearing, and even if he’d forgotten it would still be in his recent messages. 

It didn’t make any sense.

“No…” A weak voice broke through Ranboo’s thoughts, causing him to turn around to Tubbo. The president’s eyes were slowly filling with tears, his small chest beginning to heave, and his composure starting to crack. Ranboo’s hands shot to his friend’s shoulders. He needs to calm him down before his blood pressure became too high and he began seizing.

“Tubbo...Tubbo...Tubbo!” The president’s eyes met his own and Ranboo could feel his heart breaking. “Calm down, Tubs. Deep breaths. We don’t know if he’s even dead.”

“I do.”

A hand lands on Tubbo’s shoulder, covering Ranboo’s. Quackity kneels by the bed and asks softly, “What do you mean, ‘you know’?”

“I heard him while I was asleep. I heard him.”

“Tubbo, you were probably just dreaming. There hasn’t even been a death message!” Fundy reassures.

“No! I can’t feel him anymore! I can’t! The compass is broken which can only mean one thing...he’s dead.”

“Maybe, he just accidentally broke it?” Ranboo questions, trying his best to soothe the distraught teen.

“No!” Tubbo, clenches his hair in his fist and swats away the hands grabbing at him. He gets on his knees in his bed and wails, “He told me not to follow him...he told me...not to...follow him.”

A gut-wrenching scream rips out of Tubbo’s throat as the boy sobs. He howls like a wounded animal, gripping the broken compass desperately against his chest. Tubbo’s breathing grew more and more erratic as the grief began to swallow him.

“T-Tommy...why?!” Tubbo cries, “Why...did you do it?” His voice was beginning to sound more strained, like something in his throat was trying to choke him.

“Tubbo! Calm down! You need to calm down, you’re going to hurt yourself, please!” Fundy begs, trying to get the president to lay back down in his bed. Tubbo pushes the fox away and practically tumbles off the bed. He claws desperately at the ground like he was trying to rip away the floor. Snot drips from his nose as he digs his hands into the wooden floor. Quackity grabs the president from behind, his hands working to try and pry his bloodied and splintered fingers from the boards.

“Come back! Come...back! T-Tom..my...come...ba--” Tubbo’s voice cut off sharply and the president clutches at his throat. His inhales were squeaky and haggard, Tubbo falls back in Quackity’s arms as he fought in anguish for breath. The muscles in the boy’s body rapidly began seizing up and soon Tubbo is as stiff as a board. The raven-haired man looks at Ranboo with a terrified expression, and the teen stares back with a mirrored expression.

“Ranboo, what do we do?!” Fundy cries, shaking the enderman’s shoulders in panic. Tubbo’s lips were beginning to turn blue.

“I-I...I don’t...oh god…” Ranboo splutters, he could feel his brain beginning to shut down. He didn’t know.

_Oh god. What do I do?_

\--------------------------------------------

_A few hours earlier…_

“Aether above, it’s dark in here,” Philza says. He swings his lantern ahead of him, trying to light up the dark caverns of the sewage tunnel. The older man reaches his other hand backward, grasping for his eldest son. His hand bunches around the shoulder of Wilbur’s sweatshirt and he tugs his son ahead of him.

“Stay close, Wil. I don’t want to lose you in this.”

“We should’ve brought some potions of night vision, I saw them Techno’s chests but didn’t grab them.” Wilbur sighs, as he hoists his backpack higher on his back.

“Ah well, there's no use in moping about it now. We’ll just have to make do with the lanterns.”

“You don’t think that there are any mobs down here? Do you?” Wilbur asks nervously, the hand on his rucksack strap tightening.

Philza shrugs and pauses to fill up the lantern with more kerosene. The light flickers briefly before its glow grows bright and strong, illuminating a few feet further. “It’s a possibility, especially if the entire sewer is as dark as this area. Got your crossbow?”

Wilbur shifts and pulls out _Chekhov’s Gun_ from the sack. He loads up an arrow in the slot before letting it rest against his arm.

“Yep, don’t worry Phil, I won’t let any baby zombies bite your ankles.”

“It was one time!” Philza groans, knowing well that the story of him being trapped in a cave for two days thanks to three baby zombies would never die.

“Yes, and we will _never_ forget it.” Wil laughs. Suddenly the brunette stopped, he shoots a hand out in front of Phil and then presses a finger to his lips. He turns his head, straining to listen for the noise that had startled him. The noise is faint, a gentle splashing of shoes against the mossy cobble floor. Not loud enough to be a mob, but stealthy enough for a human. Wilbur grabs his father’s arm and pulls him against the wall. Phil quickly extinguishes the oil lantern and shoves it into his pack.

The two hold their breath as the footsteps drew near in the darkness. The footsteps in question were light as they seemingly danced across the stone floor. The stranger was about to tread past them when Wil’s foot slides on a partially slippery part of the moss-covered stone. A yelp chokes in Wilbur’s throat and he slaps his hand over his mouth to stifle it. But it was too late, the footsteps stop and a feminine voice pierces through the silence.

“Hello? Who’s down here?” The familiar voice says softly, fear dripping from her tone. Wilbur’s eyes widen as he sputters out, “N-Niki?”

“Who said that? Where are you?” A lantern blooms from the girl’s hands, flooding the corridor with light. Sharp blue eyes appear in the light and Niki gasps as she takes in the sight of her friend.

“W-Wilbur? What?” Niki cries, a hand pressed against her mouth as her blue eyes sparkle with tears. Wilbur smiles at his friend and pulls the girl into his arms, holding her gently against him.

“Y-you’re alive? How?!” Nikki weeps as she buries her face into his shirt. Wilbur rubs at her back gently, flooded with relief at the sight of one of his closest childhood friends. Once her tears subside, Wilbur responds to her questions.

“Phil brought me back.” Wilbur smiles and pulls Niki back so she could see his father standing next to him. Niki’s features bloom into a grateful smile as she hugs the older man who had always been there for her during childhood.

“Phil! Where have you been?” Niki says warmly and Phil chuckles at the girl. 

“Oh, you know, _around._ ” Philza replies, “More importantly, what on earth are you doing down here? We thought this place was empty.”

“I was trying to find the northern exit so I could get back to L’Manburg easier, but I got lost. I got turned around in the dark somewhere.” Niki explains and Wilbur laughs, looping an arm around the woman.

“Well, why don’t you join us? We’re passing by L’manburg at the moment and could use the company.” 

Niki nods and smiles, “Sounds wonderful, maybe we could all visit the bakery? I have some new pastry ideas I’m dying to show you, along with some questions that need answering.”

“It’s gonna be a long walk back so fire away,” Phil says cheerfully but then frowns, “But, um, while we’d love to get the presidential tour from Tubbo and visit you and the bakery, we do have to be somewhere in a few hours.”

Niki halts, her face pained, she whispers to them in the illuminated darkness, “You don’t know about Tubbo, do you?”

“Tubbo? What about him?” Wilbur asks, his eyebrow quirks up in confusion. Niki sighs, brushing a hand through her blond hair. She twirls the brown highlights nervously around her finger as she explains,

“He’s in a coma.” She says bluntly, and Wilbur’s jaw falls open. She holds up a finger for him to wait as he tries to speak, once he was silent she continues, “I don’t know exactly what happened but he hurt his head badly and has been out for nearly two weeks.”

“Gods…” Philza whispers, his head falls into his hands. Wilbur still stood in shock, his mouth hanging agape as he tries to stammer out a response. Finally, the words spill from his mouth and he speaks,

“D-Do...do you think Tommy knows, Phil?”

“Tommy? I thought he was in exile?” Niki asks, raising a brow. Wilbur freezes, he couldn’t tell Niki that Tommy was with him. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, but they couldn’t risk his safety, not even for Nik.

“He is, but we worry, you know?” Philza lies smoothly. Wilbur was impressed as he sighs internally, grateful. The brunette nods along, smiling weakly, “Y-yeah he’s still my brother, so we naturally are worried about him.”

Niki looks skeptical but doesn't question the hesitation in Wilbur’s tone. She shrugs and continues along the darkened path.

“And, no Wil, I doubt he knows. I would imagine he would’ve broken into L’manburg by now if he did.”

Wilbur huffs, anger dripping from his tone, “He deserves to know, Phil. That’s his best friend. I don’t give a damn if he’s in exile.”

“Who knows, maybe Dream told him,” Phil says with a hint of bitterness. His eyes widen for a moment as if something finally clicked in his brain. But Niki was there so he wipes his expression clean and smiles at the young woman. 

They walk together for about an hour, catching up with one another and trying to explain how Wilbur was revived. They stray away from talking about their current living situations, and Tommy of course. Thankfully, Niki doesn’t pry, and soon they could see the light streaming out of one of the manhole covers. Wilbur climbs up first and calls down cheerfully, “We’re here! We’re just outside of L’manburg, c’mon Niki grab my hand.”

The ladder leading up to the manhole cover was busted and rickety, so Wilbur instead hoists Niki up. The two work together to help Philza out of the sewers, and once the three were on solid ground, Wilbur places the manhole cover back. 

The brunette inhales deeply, letting the smell of fresh grass and flowers flood his senses. He was happy to be out of the sewers, it smells like shit.

“Thank you both for leading me home, it was terrifying to be lost and alone in that sewer. I owe the both of you.” Niki says, expressing her gratitude with her radiant smile. Philza waves her off, smiling back.

“Don’t mention it, Nikki. It was wonderful to see you again, you’ve grown up a lot since our days in the village.”

“I’m just glad I no longer have to babysit Drista. She was a nightmare when she was young. Now she’s so grown up and helps me run the bakery! Are you sure you two don’t want to come and say hello? I know Drista would love to see you two.”

“As much as we’d love to see that little gremlin, I’m afraid we need to move on. Maybe in a few weeks, we’ll pop in for some of your pastries.”

Niki sighs disappointedly but smiles regardless, “Very well, don’t be a stranger you two.” She wraps her small arms around the two and hugs them close for a moment. She pulls away after a minute and the three say their goodbyes. Once Niki had disappeared from view, Phil turns to Wilbur, his expression had gone grim.

“What is it, dad?” Wilbur asks, confused at the sudden shift in the atmosphere. Philza sighs, his face pained as he laments,

“I think I know why Tommy jumped…”

\--------------------------------------------------------------

“You need to tell me what happened, you can’t just pretend like you didn’t just shut down for an hour!” Tommy exclaims, stumbling to keep up with Techno. The older man looks back at the teen with an exasperated expression,

“I just got overwhelmed, it happens sometimes.” 

“I’ve seen you overwhelmed, Tech. That was not a fucking anxiety attack, for the first time in my life I saw that you were vulnerable. Do you know how goddamn terrifying that is? What if that had happened when other people were around?”

“Gods, Tommy, it _won’t!_ I just got angry is all! I needed time for _them_ to calm down.”

Tommy marches in front of him, stopping Techno in his path, the pig-hybrid huffs, gently shoves the boy aside, and keeps walking.

“You can’t act on your anger, Techno,” Tommy says firmly, and Techno stops and turns to the teen.

“Like hell, I can’t” Techno snips, “I’ll kill the bastard for what he did to you.”

“No!” Tommy criea as he stumbles in front of him, Techno catches him before he falls, “You can’t! Just let it go, please!”

“What do you think I can’t beat him? You insult me, Theseus.”

“No, it’s not that.” Tommy assures him and Technoblade stares at the boy, waiting for him to elaborate, “I don’t want you to leave.”

“What?” Technoblade was shocked by the sudden confession and equally as confused by it. 

Tommy looks down at his hands, inspecting the jaggedly bitten nails on each finger. The teen hesitates before finally mumbling, “I don’t want you to go. Not again.”

The teen looks at Technoblade and says louder, “Just stay, with Wilbur, Dad, and I. We can be a family again, like when we were young. We’ll be living in our old home doing mundane things like; fixing it up, trading with the villagers, growing a shit ton of potatoes, and having cow and sheep farms. No more war, no more vengeance, no more governments. We can all be domestic as fuck and live a peaceful life.”

Tommy inhales and takes a step towards Techno, “But, if you go after Dream and try to kill him? Then we can never be free of it all. Just let him go. Please, just do it for me.”

Technoblade stands there, stunned. He’d only seen his brother speak so passionately a handful of times, and they always led to him being either enraged or proud. Now, he was torn. Tommy had given him an ultimatum. On one hand, he could live peacefully with his family at their old childhood home, or he could choose revenge.

And as delicious as revenge sounds, his little brother was right. He couldn't let it go, but he would try to, for Tommy’s sake. Technoblade sets a hand on Tommy’s shoulder, patting it fondly.

“Ok, I’ll try,” Technoblade promises and the teen grins and throws himself into his arms.

“Thank you,” Tommy smiles into his shirt. Techno rubs the boy’s back affectionately before pulling away.

“Alright, enough of this sappy shit, let's get a move on. We’re not too far from Pogtopia, now.”

A pit settles into Tommy’s stomach so suddenly that it nearly knocks him over, an overwhelming sense of wrongness washing over him. The boy turns, his gaze directed at the muted lights of L’Manburg that were shining in the distance.

_Something’s wrong._

“Tommy?” Techno calls, noticing the teen was trailing behind. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure, just an odd feeling I got suddenly. It’s probably nothing, let’s keep going.”

Technoblade nods and shrugs, satisfied by Tommy’s response and they press on. They decide not to apply another invisibility potion to Tommy because of how dark it was outside, nobody would be able to see either of them anyway.

_Something is really wrong._

Throughout the rest of the journey, the pit in Tommy’s stomach only grows. The nagging feeling that something was incredibly wrong refuses to abate, leaving Tommy antsy and nervous. Carl begins to get restless, feeling the tension oozing from Tommy. The horse turns every so often to nudge his face against Tommy’s chest as if to make sure the teen was alright. And every time Tommy smiles, pets the horse’s snout, and whisper soft reassurance to the tender animal.

They were just outside of Pogtopia when the lingering worry transforms into full-blown terror. A painful sob rips through Tommy's frame, nearly blinding him. It was as if a train had struck Tommy, he crumbles to the floor and rips his compass from his pocket.

_Wrong. Something is wrong!_

_Something is wrong. Is it Tubbo…?_

**_Tubbo._ **

Hands run over the teen, trying to pull the boy back up to his feet. Blurry faces bounce off his vision while distorted voices cry out.

_Something is wrong...with Tubbo._

_Tubbo. Tubbo. Tubbo._

“Tommy!” A deeper voice calls out, and the teen vaguely turns his head as he struggles to free himself from someone’s grasp.

“Kid, stop! Let us help!” Another voice cries, this one was more melodic. But the boy didn’t listen as he stamps down on to someone’s foot, breaking free of their grasp. It wasn’t until someone calls out, the voice fatherly and protective, “Tommy, you promised!”, that he finally stops.

His vision slowly clears and his focus centers on his family. _When did he get inside?_ The old ravine is dark and griefed beyond recognition. Buttons were strewn about all over the ravine, and only a dim torch allowed his sight to see his father and brothers staring at him in terror. Tommy backs away, his gaze searching for the tunnel that Tubbo had built to L‘manburg.

“Tommy, tell us what’s wrong. We can help.” His father speaks cautiously, arms outstretched to catch him.

_You can trust them._

_They’re your family._

_Trust them._

He knew Tubbo wasn’t actually talking to him, but the higher-pitched voice of his best friend still brings him comfort.

“T-Tubbo…” Tommy whines, desperately hoping that they’ll understand, “Something...is wrong. I need...I need to find him.”

Philza nods and Technoblade shoots forward, “I’ll go with him, stay here.”

“No,” Phil says sharply, an arm splays out against his elder brother's chest, holding him back. Phil turns to Wil, “Wilbur you go, it’s too dangerous for Technoblade. They tried to put you on trial last time you set foot in L’manburg”

“But…” Techno begin but Philza shoots him a harsh, yet pleading glare. “Don’t argue, Wilbur follow him and for the love of Notch, keep him safe.”

“Wait!” Techno calls out and ducks under Philza arm before quickly darts to Tommy, he reaches into his sack and pulls out a small golden totem. He sets the item gently into Tommy's palm and then turns to Wilbur, “Be safe you two.”

Wilbur nods and sprints after Tommy who was already headed for the tunnel.

Tommy’s mind is clouded once more, only fueled by the overwhelming need to find his best friend. The boy runs without thought, only pausing when his older brother trails too far behind. He shoves the totem that Techno had given him into his pocket and continues to scramble his way through the tunnels.

Soon the tunnel comes to an end and Tommy scales up the ladder that would lead him into the town plaza. His ankle burns from overuse but Tommy pays it no mind.

“Tommy! Do you know where you’re going?” Wilbur calls out as the two break free from the tunnel. Tommy whips his head around, trying to focus on where his heart was leading him. His eyes spot the bunker that Tubbo had built in the distance and he nods.

“This way!” Tommy calls and Wilbur follows wordlessly. They quickly reach the entrance and Tommy grasps for the brass handle, panic overcoming him when he found it locked. The teen begins to bang relentlessly on the door, as fear swallows him. He is pushed aside and Wilbur kneels next to the door with a lock pick in hand. 

He briefly allows himself to feel grateful that his older brother had been a thief in his early life as the older man made quick work of the lock. The door opens and the two rush in.

“Tubbo!” Tommy screams out into the empty foyer. He hears a set of footsteps sprinting towards him and Tommy was quickly shoved behind Wilbur, who held his crossbow in hand.

Quackity appears in the doorway, his hair disheveled and eyes full of terror that quickly melt into...relief? The shorter man draws near him and Wilbur tenses, raising his bow.

Surprisingly, the man doesn’t flinch and instead speaks urgently, “Follow me! Hurry!” Quackity disappears from sight and Tommy bolts from behind Wilbur. The teen quickly catches up with the raven-haired man as they sprint down a long hallway. They turn left and enter a large room with a bed in the middle.

Tommy’s blood runs cold as his gaze falls upon his best friend. Tubbo’s entire body is a grayish-blue pigment, he was being held on his side by Ranboo, whose face was wrought with tears. Fundy sits next to him and was holding Tubbo’s jaw open, trying to get him to breathe. The boy’s body was tense, seized at an awkward angle as he spasms uncontrollably.

Ranboo looks up at Tommy and his face broke from the relief that overcame him, “You’re alive!”

“No shit…” Tommy mutters and darts to his friend’s side. He kneels in front of Tubbo and grabs at his hands. Tommy fishes the totem from his pocket and laces Tubbo’s stiff fingers around it. They wouldn’t close no matter how hard Tommy bent them. He begins to panic, Tubbo needed to have his hand wrapped around the Totem if he was going to survive. So, Tommy had no choice but to break the bones of his best friend’s fingers. 

“C’mon, Tubbo. Don’t make me break your hand. Look at me! I’m here!” Tommy screams as tears stream freely down his cheeks. Suddenly a hand lands on his shoulder and Tommy turns to see his brother. Wilbur grabs at Tubbo’s stiff hand and makes quick work as he carefully breaks each joint with a deafening crack. 

In under a minute, Tubbo’s hand is firmly wrapped around the Totem. Tommy sighs, one less thing to worry about. 

“Tubs...I’m here.” Tommy weeps, trying to grab the attention of Tubbo’s dark brown eyes. They are glassy as they focus on Tommy’s baby blues and a shuttered gasp whistles through Tubbo’s throat as he caught sight of him.

“You are not allowed to die. You hear me? Because then I have to die and I already fucking failed at that.” A tear leaks from Tubbo’s eyes and trails down his gray cheek.

“Breathe, you hear me? Fucking breathe! You gotta fight it! I ran like a bat out of hell to get to you and you are not allowed to die on me!” Tommy sobs as he clutches Tubbo’s shattered hand. 

“Don’t you dare use that totem, understand? Fight it! You’re strong! The strongest person I know! Stronger than me…” Tommy inhales as tears clog his own throat. He runs a hand through Tubbo’s dark curls and presses his forehead against Tubbo’s.

“C’mon Tubbo, it’s not your time. I promise I won’t ever do it again. I won’t try to leave you again. I’m so sorry…”

“I know, I’m a selfish prick. But I need you Tubbo, I need you to stay alive. You’re my best friend, you were never my sidekick. I was always yours.

A faint breath exhales from Tubbo’s throat, followed by a heavenly inhale and Tommy sobs, “That’s it! Just like that. Breathe, in and out!”

Tommy holds Tubbo’s broken fist against his chest, letting the boy hear the rise and fall of his own breaths along with the steady pace of his heart.

“You hear that? I’m alive. Now it’s your turn.”

A weak inhale followed by a whistling breath exits Tubbo’s clamped throat and the room breaks into tears and sounds of joy. Fundy wraps his arms around Ranboo, pulling the sobbing boy against his chest. Quackity joins the pile quickly, holding his family against him.

Slowly, but surely, Tubbo’s breathing begins to even out as his muscles relax. Tommy pulls Tubbo’s head into his lap and weeps into his shoulder. Wilbur’s hand rests against Tommy’s back, rubbing soothing circles into the tense muscles.

Eventually, a faint voice tickles against Tommy’s ear and the blonde looks down to see dark brown eyes peering up at him.

“Y-you’re...alive…” Tubbo whispers and a hysteric chuckle bubbles from Tommy’s chest as he sniffles, “Yes, Tubbo, I’m alive.” 

The frail teen gently sits up, with Tommy's help, and throws himself into his arms. Tubbo’s sobs weakly into Tommy’s shirt, clutching the fabric in his unbroken fist. Tommy eagerly wraps his arms around his best friend, burying his face into Tubbo’s shoulder.

“How? How did you know?” Wilbur whispers astonished, from behind him.

Tommy turns to his brother, “I don’t know...I just knew.”

“Clingy…” Tubbo mutters against his chest and Tommy scoffs, “Sure, I’m the clingy one. I’ll admit it just this once.”

“M-my...hand hurts…”

Teary laughter burst from the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i almost completely forgot that i had tubbo give techno a totem. 
> 
> PLEASE leave a comment if you enjoyed! They really mean a lot to me! I love reading them so don't be shy:)


	10. Can You Fix the Broken?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright every chapter except 8 is now in present tense AND ILL FIX IT LATER
> 
> also there is a distinct lack of Wilbur in Dream SMP fics and it makes me mad
> 
> yeah I get that he died in canon but that shit didn't stop me. rewrite history. rewrite canon.
> 
> TW: Blood

“You don’t think they’re in trouble, do you?” Techno asks as he and Phil work tirelessly to mine away every single button that littered the cavern walls.

“No, I trust Tubbo. He’d never allow any harm to come to Tommy.” Philza says confidently.

“That’s a lot of faith to put into a comatose teenager, Pa.” Technoblade responds dryly. His eyebrows furrow in frustration at a particularly stuck button. He shoves the chisel into the crevice and pushes down, smiling when the button comes out with a loud “pop”.

“Maybe...maybe you’re right…” Philza admits as he sits up straight and cracks his tense joints that had locked after hours of craning over in one position. He winces and holds his neck that had popped painfully to the side a bit too harshly.

“But I trust that Wilbur can protect Tommy. And I know damn well that Tommy can defend himself. We just need to be patient, and trust that they’ll come home safe and sound.”

“You sound more like you need to reassure yourself of that, no offense,” Technoblade says bluntly.

“Yeah well, I can’t wait for all of this to be over. I just want us all safe under one roof, preferably one that isn’t made of crumbling stone.” Philza looks up, wincing as a few stray pebbles clatter at his feet. This place had really gone to shit since it had last been inhabited.

Technoblade chuckles, “Tommy said something similar to me earlier.”

“Was that before or after you clocked out?”

The pink-haired man pales and looks at Phil with wide eyes. He stutters, “H-How did you…?”

“Let’s call it father’s intuition. Also, you only call me ‘Pa’ when you’re head’s too full to remember that you haven’t titled me that since you were eight.

“That’s so not fair…” Techno argues and Phil raises his eyebrow at him.

“What happened with Tommy. Did he tell you anything?”

**_He hurt him. Dream hurt him._ **

**_Kill Dream. Kill him. Technokill._ **

**_Blood for the Blood God._ **

Techno nods hesitantly, trying to stifle the cacophony of voices filling his mind. He inhales deeply, waiting till his heart rate has settled and the voices have faded into a muted static before speaking.

“It was Dream. It...it had  _ always _ been, Dream. He convinced him to  _ jump _ .” Technoblade inhales through his clenched teeth as he painfully recounts what he’d learned.

“Dream manipulated a sixteen-year-old boy to try an’ kill himself.  _ And I’m not fucking allowed to slit his throat?  _ What kind of fucked up irony is that?”

Philza stares at him in shock for a moment before he lets out a choked sigh, “He told you that you couldn’t touch him, didn’t he?”

The piglin nods, his shoulders tensing up in frustration. 

“D-Did he say why?” And Technoblade looked up at Phil. The man seemed antsy, his fists clenched tightly and his shoulders tensed. He appeared to be stifling back his own rage.

“He wants us to just  _ move on. _ Pretend it never happened so we can just get on with our lives. He knows I’ll go after Dream and he knows you’ll follow me if I do.” Technoblade runs a hand through his disheveled braid and sighs, “Tommy doesn’t want to lose us again.”

Philza lets out a distressed groan and puts his head in his hands. He looks up at Techno after a moment with a weak smile, “Smart kid. He’s right though. We can’t leave, we need to be there for Tommy. Once we’ve settled back at the house, that’s when the damage Dream did to him is really going to start showing. He hasn’t had a moment to actually let it sink in yet.”

Technoblade nods as he undoes his braid, letting the loose strands of pink hair fall into his face. He runs his fingers through it harshly as he tries to detangle the knots.

Phil bats his hands away and leads him over to sit on one of the nearby chests. Technoblade sighs as he feels his father’s hands gently work their way through his hair.

“I’ve been at war my entire life, whether it was with myself or an entire country. And do you know what’s strange?”

Philza shakes his head as he begins to weave Technoblade’s hair into a Dutch braid that started at his right ear and wrapped tightly around his head, ending at his left shoulder. 

“I’ve never been this scared before.”

Phil ties off the braid with the hair tie he kept around his wrist and then wraps his arms gently around his son. He sets his chin against Technoblade’s shoulder and smiles solemnly,

“I’m scared too, Tech. We just need to be there for Tommy and love him throughout it. The waves are about to start crashing down on him and we need to be ready for it.”

—————————————————————

Once the aftermath of Tubbo’s near-death experience had settled down and the tears had subsided, Wil braced himself for the inevitable questions of his revival.

Fundy was the first. The anthropomorphic fox looks up from where his face had previously been buried in Ranboo’s shoulder, and he gapes at the brunette.

Wil smiles nervously at the teen. It was strange, looking at him. The fox had grown up strong, and he feels a sense of pride well up in his chest.

He thought back to the day he’d found Fundy, he had been young when the kit had wandered into his fishing pond and gotten tangled up in the reeds looking for a snack. The poor thing was badly malnourished and had been beaten bloody. It took Wilbur nearly an hour to lure Fundy from the pond, he was only able to grab the fox’s attention once he started strumming his guitar. The little fox had been lulled by the soothing sounds and Wilbur finally had been able to draw near him.

He’d scooped the kit into his arms and the baby fox-hybrid immediately curled up against his chest. He took Fundy home with him, being careful to hide the kit from Phil (since at the time he hadn’t realized Fundy was half-human), after all, his dad wouldn’t want a wild animal lurking around the house. That night he gently scrubbed the blood from his fur and bottle-fed him from their cow’s fresh milk. He dubbed the fox, Fundy, and he remembered the kit seemed to smile at the name. 

“Do you remember your mother, Fundy?” Wilbur had asked one night as he tucked the sleepy fox into bed.

The kit’s ears flattened against his head as he shook it solemnly. Wilbur placed a gentle hand against his cheek and smiled,

“No matter, how about I tell you a story about what I think she might’ve been like?”

“Yah!” The fox cheered and Wilbur gently placed a finger to his mouth, reminding him that his brother and father were still in the house.

“Alright then, scoot,” Wilbur said fondly as he curled up next to the boy. Fundy nuzzled his head against Wilbur’s chest, causing warmth to bloom in his heart.

“Once upon a time, there was a beautiful siren—.”

“Wha’ dat?” Fundy interrupted. Wilbur merely smiled and booped his nose.

“There like fishes! Like the ones in our pond, but they’re prettier.”

“Like... thalmon?” Fundy butchered the pronunciation but Wilbur understands him well enough as he explained,

“Yes, Fundy. The siren was a salmon, her name was Sally. Sally the salmon siren.”

“Wah she pwetty?” Fundy asked, his eyes sparkled in curiosity. 

“She was the most beautiful siren in all of Endlantis; a land far from here completely submerged underwater.”

“One day she left her home in the end and traveled to our world. During her travels, she met a dashing young fox, who was king of a small underwater nation. They fell in love and were wed, eventually, she became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy. The new prince of the land.”

“Dih she wove dah baby?” A hand perched itself on Wilbur’s shoulder and Wil looked up to find the kit staring intently at him, a look of investment written on his delicate features.

Wilbur smiled and gently pinched his cheek, “With all her heart.”

“Sally adored her son, but the king viewed the boy with disdain. He grew more and more jealous of the kit with each passing day and feared that once he’d grown, the boy would overthrow him.”

“Wah happen next?!” The child bounced up and down on the bed, his brows furrowed in concern.

“As time passed, Sally grew fearful for her son’s life. The king’s insanity only grew and the love that they’d once shared had become merely a whisper of a time long past. So with a heavy heart, she took her son and vanished under a cloak of darkness into the night.”

“Where dih dey goh?” 

“Sally knew her son would never be safe, the ocean was full of dangers, perilous to anyone who dared tread in its waters. The young mother’s heart ached as after days of traveling she finally broke free of the water and the sun beamed down upon her for the first time. Quickly, she realized that her gils were aching and she couldn’t breathe the oxygen that poisoned the above. Her young son, however, had no trouble inhaling the fresh air and giggled as he watched a pair of dolphins splashed nearby.”

“In the distance, Sally could see a young boy treading in the nearby reeds, a fishing rod in hand. The boy was whistling a melodic tune that brought peace to her troubled spirit. Sally looked down at her beautiful prince, the true love of her life, her baby.  _ Her son _ .”

“It wouldn’t be long until her husband tracked her down and dragged her back. Her son would surely be killed. She looked at the boy who was fishing peacefully and smiled, melancholic. Sally swam to the edge of the pond, she was careful to conceal herself in the reeds. The mother gently set her son on a soft patch of grass and pressed a sorrowful kiss to her baby’s forehead.”

“And with a grieving and broken heart, she watched from the shadows as her only child was taken away, hopefully to find a better life that she could no longer provide.”

Wilbur finished his story with a sad smile and peered down at Fundy, who looked to be on the verge of tears.

_ Crap. _

Wil scooped up the kit in his arms and gently rocked the crying child. He soothed the weeping kit but did his best to stifle his cries out of fear of waking his father. Eventually, the boy wore himself out and pushed away, he sniffled and his little voice wobbled as he spoke,

“Wah happened to dah baby? Dih he find his ma-ma?”

“No, Fundy. But he found a father, someone who could love him unconditionally and take care of him for Sally. And as for the mother, she knew that her son was safe from harm, and that was all that mattered. Eventually, she returned to her home in Endlantis and lived the rest of her days in peace.”

“I wike the ending, but ih sad, da-da.”

“Not every story has a happy ending, Fundy. This world we live in is dark and twisted but there is joy to be found in it. Do you know what my joy is?”

Fundy shook his head and Wilbur grinned as he hoisted the kit in his arms, snuggling him close to his chest.

“You, Fundy. You’re my joy.” Wil murmured into his fur and the two sat there for a while, curled up on the soft bed. Eventually, the rumbling sound of Fundy’s stomach broke the moment and Wilbur frowned.

“I know, bud. I’m hungry too. In the morning I’ll try to fetch us some fish, okay?” The kit nodded and buried his face into Wil’s shoulder and it wasn’t long before soft snores tickled his ear. Wilbur smiled and curled up next to his son and let sleep envelop him.

True to Wilbur’s own words, the world was truly dark and twisted and Fundy had been found by his father a week later.

His dad obviously was not happy that he’d essentially been hiding a hybrid underneath his nose, not that he’d known Fundy was half-human. What broke his heart though was that Phil had said that he couldn’t keep Fundy due to the famine that was ravaging the land at the time, they were hardly getting by themselves. 

Wilbur had sobbed and begged for Phil to change his mind, clutching the fox against his chest. Fundy chirped against Wil’s chest and placed his tiny paws on top of his nose, “Da-Da!” 

Philza had tears in his eyes as he knelt down to his son and placed a hand on top of Wil’s head,

“I’m sorry, bud. You can’t keep him. But I’ve found someone who can take care of him, you’ll still be able to see him whenever you like.”

“Who?” Wilbur asked, his dark brown eyes shining with tears.

“His name is Eret, he’s one of my patrons and he’s promised to look after Fundy. I know he’ll take good care of him, Wilbur.”

And so with a heavy heart, Wilbur let his son be taken from him. He cried for weeks, constantly locking himself in his room as he mourned. It had been one of the hardest moments of his life, giving up Fundy. But as time passed and the pain dulled he realized he’d done it to give him a better life, as a father should. Not that he’d been old enough at the time to be one.

Wilbur slowly brought himself back to the present, using Fundy’s teary eyes to guide his way. He smiles at the teen and says softly, 

“Hey, kit.”

The fox broke free from Ranboo and Quackity’s arms and flung himself at Wilbur, digging his face into his chest.

“Holy shit, you’re alive?” Fundy asks, baffled. 

“So it would seem.” Wilbur chuckles, burying his nose into the fox’s soft fur.

“I don’t care how honestly it’s probably better if I don’t know. I’m just so  _ fucking _ glad you’re here. I missed you so much, Wil.”

“I missed you too, Fundy. I’m sorry...so sorry...for  _ everything _ .”

The two move into their own little corner of the room, taking time to catch up and finally  _ talk.  _ Meanwhile, Tubbo begins to slowly stir from his half-conscious state.

Tommy jolts from his half-doze at the movement of the brunette, he peers down at his best friend in confusion. Tubbo’s eyes dart around the room as he comes to and suddenly his eyes widen.

“Oh gods, you can’t be  _ here. _ ” Tubbo panics and scrambles from his arms. Tommy blinks at him in total confusion, before a crushing weight squeezes at his heart. The grief quickly turns to rage.

“I’m still exiled? Are you  _ fucking _ serious?” Tommy hisses at Tubbo, who winces at the teen’s harsh tone.

“What? No, that’s not what I mean! Tommy, I couldn’t give a shit about the exile anymore.”

“Then what the fuck’s the problem?” 

Tubbo’s eyes bounce around the room again, almost as if he’s afraid something will jump out at him. He pales and stammers out, “It’s Dream. He’s promised to come and visit me any day now. You’re not safe here, Toms.  _ You need to leave. _ ”

“I came all this way to save your life and you’re kicking me out?” Tommy yells, anger boiling in his gut.

“Tommy,  _ please _ . I don’t want to kick you out but it’s not safe for you to be here. I promise I’ll come to visit Pogtopia when I can, I assume that’s where you’re staying?”

Wilbur nods but Tommy’s composure breaks and he whimpers, “Please, Tubbo. Don’t make me leave you. I just got you back.”

A sob catches in Tubbo’s throat and he quickly throws his arms around the teen. He pulls his best friend tightly against his chest and soothes the sniveling teen, “I know, I don’t want to leave you either. But I’m the president, I have responsibilities for my people, but one of my most important jobs is keeping Dream oblivious and off your scent.”

“I missed you. I missed you so  _ goddamn _ much. I don’t know what to do without you.” Tommy weeps, trying to hide his sobs in the crook of his best friend’s shoulder.

“I missed you too, Toms. You’re strong, man. We won’t be apart forever, I promise.” Tubbo says, rubbing circles into Tommy’s back. Tommy pulls back and uses the back of his sleeve to wipe his nose. His face is red with embarrassment as he avoids looking anyone in the eye.

“I’m not. I was never  _ strong _ . I let that bastard talk me off a cliff without batting an eye. I let him belittle me and abuse me for  _ weeks.  _ You would never have taken that shit. You would have stood up for yourself long before I did. You wouldn’t—-“ Tommy cuts off, a sob choking in his throat. He leans his forehead against Tubbo’s shoulder, trying to hide himself from the people staring at him in concern.

“I wouldn’t have and I didn’t.” Tubbo objects and he feels Tommy tense beneath him, “I let him convince me that you were fine, even though you told me you weren’t. He told me you were just being dramatic and I believed him. I’m  _ so _ sorry, Tommy. I’m  _ so sorry _ that I’m such a shit friend.”

“ _ No. _ You’re not.  _ You’re not. _ You are the greatest thing that ever happened to me, you hear me, dumbass? Gods, can you all just  _ fucking leave?!”  _ Tommy raises his head and screams at his audience. Wilbur nods and silently ushers everyone out. Tommy gives him a teary smile as Wil closes the door, giving the two the privacy they deserved.

“I’m not mad, Tubbo.” Tommy raises his hands to brush away the tears that streamed down Tubbo’s face. “You exiled me to keep L’Manburg safe, you had  _ every _ reason to after the shit I pulled with Ranboo.” He shakes his head when Tubbo tries to object, “Dream is a manipulative bitch, trust me, I know. He hooks himself into you to establish trust and slowly tears away at you bit by bit. He broke me, Tubbo. He shattered me into millions of stars that will take me a long time to piece together again. He did that to me in a few weeks, he’s been in your ear for months. I’m not mad.”

Tubbo’s lip quivers as fat tears roll down his pale cheeks. His face crumples and he buries it into Tommy’s shirt, “I love you, Tommy. I love you, man. I was wrong to exile you. I was  _ so _ wrong! I knew you didn’t mean to blow up George’s house, I knew that. He threatened me, he threatened L’manburg and I couldn’t say no.”

“It’s okay.  _ It’s okay, Tubs _ .” Tommy buries a hand into Tubbo’s dark curls, threading them gently between his fingers. He rubs his back gently as the president cries into his shoulder.

“You did what you had to do, Tubbo. I was stupid and I paid the price. As President, you did what was right for L’Manburg.”

“But I didn’t do what was right  _ as your friend. _ ” Tubbo blinks up at him, frowning. “You did stupid shit all the time, I did it with you sometimes! And I still let  _ him _ convince me that you were a detriment.”

“He wasn’t wrong,” Tommy admits, his face unreadable. “I was a detriment to L’manburg then, and I’m one now. It’s like you said, if Dream finds me here, we’re screwed.”

Multiple things click together in Tommy’s head at once, all of them leaving a sour taste in his mouth. 

_ If Dream finds out I was here, he’ll hurt him.  _

_ I need to go. _

_ I have to protect him. _

Tubbo shakes his head at him in disbelief but remains silent.

“Look, I came here today because I could feel that you were in danger. I-I’m not sure... _ how _ I knew, but I did. I was panicking earlier but my mind has cleared up a bit, and you’re right. I can’t be here. It’s too dangerous for you and L’manburg” Tommy gently pushes Tubbo off of him and gets to his feet. He brushes the dust off his lap and smiles weakly at Tubbo who still appears shell-shocked on the floor.

“I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you, Mr. President. I’ll take my leave now.” Tommy says, his tone devoid of any emotion. Tubbo reaches up weakly for him, desperately clawing for his hand as Tommy begins to walk away.

“W-wait, don’t...don’t go!” Tubbo calls out faintly and Tommy merely smiles, “Goodbye, Tubbo. I love you, big man.”

Tommy exits the room, shutting the door behind him. He can faintly hear Tubbo screaming at him from behind the door and has to pause briefly to choke back a sob. It’s for the best. 

_ It’s for the best.  _ Tommy tries to reassure himself, failing miserably. He walks away from Tubbo’s cries and enters the hallway where his brother is waiting for him. He turns to Ranboo who has his head in his hands and asks.

“Take care of him, will ya? He’s strong enough to look after himself but I worry, ya know?”

Ranboo stares at him for a long moment before finally nodding. The enderman pats his shoulder fondly as he pushes past him to walk to Tubbo’s room. Fundy gives Wilbur a brief hug then grabs Quackity’s hand, pulling him along after him. The two nod in unison at Tommy before they also head back to Tubbo.

Once alone, Wilbur stands before his younger brother, eyeing him cautiously. Tommy blinks up at him and Wil opens his arms to catch the teen. Tommy’s knees buckle sending them both crumbling to the floor. Wilbur’s arms curl around the boy as he silently sobs into his brother’s sweater. 

It takes many minutes before Tommy is able to pull away. His eyes are puffy and swollen from crying and Wilbur uses his fingers to gently wipe away any stagnant tears. Tommy leans into the touch and whispers brokenly, “C-Can we go home now?”

“Are you sure you’re ready to?” Wil asks, twirling a lock of Tommy’s hair around his index finger. Tommy looks back at the door, behind it he knows his best friend is just as equally torn up as he is. He’d love nothing more than to run headlong back into the room and melt into Tubbo’s arms. 

But he knows that he can’t. 

Tommy turns back to Wil and responds, “Yeah, I’m ready.”

—————————————————————

It takes nearly an hour to calm down Tubbo. The teen president continuously tried to fling himself at the door, desperately trying to reach Tommy. It was heartbreaking to watch and Ranboo’s composure nearly gave way a few times. 

Finally, the boy cried himself into unconsciousness in Fundy’s arms. Quackity had turned to Ranboo once the sobs had subsided and told him to try to get more sleep if he could.

“I’ll help Fundy put him back to bed, get some rest, kid. I’ll call if he takes a turn, alright?”

Reluctantly, Ranboo agreed and left for his bedroom. His mind raced as he trudged down the sparsely decorated hallway. 

_ Did you do enough? _

_ I did everything I could have done. _

_ You could’ve gotten Tommy. He could’ve calmed him down. _

_ Tommy was just as messed up, he needed time to collect himself.  _

_ Are you sure? _

He wasn’t sure. His mind felt as if it was being torn apart. It’s a familiar feeling, one that had been plaguing him since his arrival in L’manburg. Ranboo stops at the door to his bedroom and places a hand at the doorknob, his blood runs cold.

_ He’s here. _

_ I know. _

From within the room, usually stemmed a gentle hum. The hum was comforting, warm and inviting, it let Ranboo know that everything was alright. The hum would let Ranboo know he was safe.

There was no hum, tonight. 

Ranboo inhales deeply and enters the room, locking it behind him. His eyes reluctantly pry themselves open as he looks ahead. There is no one there, but Ranboo isn’t fooled. The room is cold, causing goosebumps to prickle across the teen’s arms. 

He sits atop his bed, crossing his legs tightly beneath himself as he waits anxiously for the nightmare to arrive.

It’s slow. An eerie sludge that warps at the ends of his vision, making his sight fog. He digs his fingers into the sheets, his nails ripping at the delicate fabric. His breath comes out shaky when the lights suddenly begin to flicker before going out entirely. The room is plunged into darkness and the teen squeezes his eyes shut.

Ranboo presses his back against the wall and pulls his legs to his chest. His heart jolts painfully in his chest when a cold hand slides menacingly up his shoulder. He bats it away with a surge of courage, choking back a terrified scream when the hand closes around his wrist. 

His eyes shoot open and the hand is gone. His toes curl with anxiety as a figure begins to form at the end of his bed. A dark green muck mixed with an even deeper purple begins to pull together into a grotesque glob of anatomy. 

_ It’s not real. _

_ It’s not real. _

_ He’s just trying to scare you. _

It seems pretty flipping real, though. The form shifts and two hands clutch at the end of his bed. What Ranboo assumes to be the monster’s backside, arches backward, and tendrils of red veins meld together into a disturbing face. Shards of white ceramic slither up the form, piecing themselves together into a familiar grin. The creature stands straight and snarls at him. 

Ranboo’s fingers dig into his shoulder and draw blood as he hyperventilates uncontrollably into his sleeve. He feels the cords before he sees them. They dig into his skin, sliding up his body as they encircle him. His vision goes murky as the monster tugs at the strings that begin to entwine themselves around his wrists and ankles. Ranboo pulls at them desperately, using his nails to try and rip the bondages away. It’s no use, the bindings are like steel, they always are. 

Finally, he lets his hands fall limply to his sides, his wrists streaming blood from where the cords slice into him. Silent tears burn at his cheeks.

Once again, he has become nothing more than a doll with strings and Dream was his puppeteer. 

He looks up to find that the sludge monster has abated, leaving an even more terrifying figure in its wake. Dream grins at him, his teeth an unnatural pearly white. The man stalks over to his bedside and sits atop the crumbled comforter. He takes the quaking teen’s chin in his hand and jerks it upwards to meet his gaze. Dream’s voice is like ice as it snakes into his thoughts.

“So, Ranboo, it’s about time we  _ talked. _ ”

The poison fills his mind and then there’s nothing.

:)

—————————————————————

The sun is just beginning to dawn over the horizon by the time Wilbur and Tommy leave Tubbo’s bunker. The two are quick to dive back into the sewers as the small country begins to stir. 

The brothers walk in silence, Wilbur’s arm wrapped gently across Tommy’s shoulders. The gesture serves as a comfort to him, a signal that implied that Wil was there to talk if he needed to. He smiles internally, appreciative of his older brother’s kind and empathetic nature. Though he supposed part of that nature stemmed from Ghostbur rather than Wilbur. Before his death, Wilbur had been much more apathetic. 

He liked this version of his eldest brother the best. Though it was uncertain which of the two his brother had become.

“Are you Ghostbur or Wilbur?” Tommy asks suddenly and Wil stumbles over his feet, shocked by the sudden question.

Once the man had steadied himself he answered, “I’m both, I think? I...um...I remember the entirety of Ghostbur, how I acted and what I did. But when Dad and Tech revived me, suddenly there was someone else.”

“Someone else?” Tommy questions, confused.

“A whole different personality with memories and desires of their own. Wilbur.” 

“So you’re more Ghostbur than Alive...bur?” Tommy lets out a nervous chuckle at the odd term he’d created.

“I like the term Alivebur for who I used to be, yes. Basically, Alivebur weaved himself into Ghostbur, filling in gaps in my memories and expanding upon my personality. Whereas Ghostbur had trouble understanding sadness and anger, to an extent. Alivebur was filled with those emotions, and more than happy to share. The two fused together and I’m the product. So to be honest, I’m Ghostbur and I’m Alivebur, but at the same time, I’m neither of them. I’m just...me.”

“Wilbur,” Tommy states, squeezing his hand firmly. Wil squeezes back and smiles,

“Yes, I’m Wilbur.”

“Do you remember Alivebur?” Tommy asks, and Wilbur's gaze hardens and glazes over a bit as his eyebrows furrow in deep concentration. Tommy waits patiently for him to return and after a long moment, Wilbur speaks.

“It’s...fuzzy. The memories are returning, I get more and more pieces every day. Every time I fall asleep a new piece of the puzzle is added and in the daytime, it’s my job to see where it fits. But it’s difficult.” Wilbur admits, his gaze falling to the mossy cobble path.

“Why don’t you just ask? I’m sure I could help fill in some of the gaps.” Tommy offers.

“I know...it’s just...hard to ask. I don’t want to end up upsetting anyone because I don’t understand what I’m asking.” Wilbur releases Tommy’s hands and tightly wraps his arms around himself.

“Wilbur,” Tommy stops to stare firmly at his brother. “Ask me, I won’t be upset. Trust me, I want to help you remember. I loved Alivebur as much as I loved Ghostbur. I want both of them back.”

Wilbur looks away and swallows hard. He stares hard at the ground for a long moment before he places a gentle hand onto Tommy’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Tommy.” He whispers and Tommy smiles.

“No problem, Wil.” Tommy shrugs and the two continue on their path to Pogtopia.

“Can I ask you something?” Wil says after a long period of comfortable silence. Tommy blinks but nods nonetheless.

“Why was there a flaming hot dog on top of our drug van?” 

Tommy bursts into laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ranboo is straight up NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME 
> 
> ALSO FUNDY, I finally figured out how to write him as Wilbur's "dad" without making it that he fucked a salmon. Also it fixed the weird age gap (that was until I learned fundy ages quickly but fuck you my canon) So basically Fundy still sees Wilbur as his dad but its complicated~
> 
> lmao oh look the underlining plot nice to see you
> 
> for clarification on Wilbur; he is BOTH Ghostbur and Alivebur but has a hard time remembering Alivebur. He'll remember vague emotions but can't quite remember what they go to. also Ghostbur lacked the ability to discuss sad and mad shit and Wilbur can. It makes him so much easier to write when characters have an entire personality and aren't just one vague happy (somewhat numb???) person (I love you Ghostbur but damn FUNDY NEEDS TO TALK)
> 
> he's basically link from botw
> 
> Please leave a comment if you enjoy! They really help motivate me and I adore reading them <3


	11. I Don't Want to Remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EYYY WE'RE BACK BABY!!! In case you hadn't known AO3 decided to hide my work because I put something about breaking someones kneecaps in the tags. Lesson LEARNED no dark humor I guess.
> 
> Anyway, I removed the tag and AO3 let me live.
> 
> In celebration, have an extra long chapter, as treat:)

They arrive back at Pogtopia just before midday. Tommy watches fondly as he spots his father and brother working together in amicable silence. The two had mined away every button that had littered the ravine and lit it up warmly with torches. The place seemed just like it had been the last time Wilbur and he had lived there. Only now, his entire family inhabited the narrow homestead.

Wilbur loudly clears his throat to grab their attention. Phil turns and his face shines in relief. The man rushes over to the two and quickly pulls them into a warm hug. Tommy eagerly reciprocates and entwines his lanky arms around his father’s waist.

“Thank gods, you’re both safe,” Phil murmurs into Tommy’s hair. The teen chuckles and mumbles in response, “Ey, you’re not gettin’ rid of us that easily.”

A hand brushes against Tommy’s shoulder and he looks up to see Technoblade smiling fondly at him. 

“Hello, Theseus.” The piglin says warmly. Tommy grabs his arm gently and responds with a nickname of his own.

“What’s up, nerd?” 

Technoblade rolls his eyes but chuckles nonetheless. He swiftly pulls the teen from Phil’s embrace into his own. 

“Glad you’re back safe. Phil was getting antsy.”

From behind him, Tommy hears his father scoff.

“No more than you were, Techno.”

“Lies.”

Tommy pulls back from the hug and looks around at the ravine. He frowns as he spots the remains of his old room. A shudder washes through him as he recalls the awful memory of him being trapped in between two pistons.

Techno follows his gaze and has to choke back a laugh. Tommy glares at him and swiftly elbows him in the stomach. 

“I still think it would’ve been an amazing carnival attraction.” Technoblade wheezes, clutching his stomach.

“I ought to blow up that room.” Tommy hisses, eyeing it in disgust.

“What room?” Wilbur asks from where he and Phil are sitting. Tommy’s ears flush red in embarrassment as he hears Philza wheezing with laughter .

“I regret not stabbing the lot of you in your sleep,” Tommy mutters jokingly under his breath.

“Aw, nothin’ Wil. Just a traumatic memory for Tommy.” Technoblade assures.

“I hate all of you,” Tommy says bitterly.

“Now, now. That’s enough. We should be focused on heading home rather than reminiscing on past... _ mishaps _ . C’mon you lot, let’s go.” Philza intervenes, placing a soothing hand atop Tommy’s shoulder. 

“Wait, why he fuck did we spend so much time fixing this place up if we weren’t going to stay here the night?” Technoblade asks, baffled.

Philza turns to him and thumps his forehead, “To distract ourselves.”

Technoblade winces and rubs the growing red mark, “Fair enough.”

“It’s not safe for us to be here anyway. Too many people know where it is.” Wilbur points out as he helps Phil pack away his tools.

“Precisely. The sooner we clear out of here, the better.” Philza agrees.

“How close is the house? It’s nearly noon right now, we won’t exactly be hidden if we travel.” Tommy asks, grabbing a sack of supplies from Techno.

“It’s not too far. Friend and Carl are already there. I stashed them inside the old barn so they should be safe for now. I brought extra invisibility potions for us to travel under.” Technoblade explains and hands Tommy a potion.

The family carefully navigates their way up the crumbling scaffolding and through the narrow staircase. They make it to the exit and all of them quickly consume their potions, vanishing from sight.

“Alright boys, hold hands so we don’t lose anyone.  _ And don’t complain. _ ” Tommy could tell Phil aimed that at him specifically.

“Yes, Dad…” The siblings echo in perfect unison and Phil snorts. Tommy feels Wilbur’s hand wrap lightly around his wrist, comfortable.

Tommy reaches out his other hand and grasps his other brother’s hand, who in return crushes it accidentally in his tight grip.

“Fuckin’ Ow!” Tommy yelps as he tries to wriggle his fingers from the piglin’s death grip. Techno loosens his hold a tad, but not enough to allow the teen to slip away.

“Boys, enough. Let’s go.” Philza says sternly and begins leading the pack upwards and out of the cave. Sunlight shines brightly against Tommy’s pale complexion and he flinches as the sun burns his blue eyes.

Together, they walk throughout the oaken forest, stopping only whenever someone’s grip falters or when an unfamiliar sound takes them aback. It takes the better part of an hour to trek through the forest, but finally, the family reaches a clearing that is eerily familiar to Tommy.

The teen smiles fondly and memories of family picnics and camping out in the cool breeze of a late summer’s evening flood back to him. He’d learned to fight in this clearing, Wil had taught him the basic chords of the guitar, while his father had shown him how wings were supposed to be preened gently rather than raked through by rough hands.

“I never thought we’d end up coming back here…” Tommy voices and Wilbur nods in agreement. “You’d never guess that most of it had burned to the ground. The clearing looks almost untouched.” Technoblade murmured in astonishment. The piglin leans down, allowing the grass to ride up past his knees. He delicately plucks a wildflower from one of the plants and tucks it behind his ear. A gentle sigh exits his lips and he smiles, eyes glazed over by memories.

“The house isn’t much further, c’mon guys,” Techno says after a long moment and Tommy felt like he’d just missed something. He turns to Wilbur who merely shrugs and follows after Technoblade. Beyond the clearing, far to the right, Tommy could just barely make out a dozen or so patchwork roofs all with chimney smoke rising from their hearths. A village, not ten minutes away from their home.

“It sprung up a few years back, they practically bulldozed any remnant of the old village and started fresh. The folk there seem friendly enough.” Phil says, placing a gentle hand atop his youngest’s shoulder. He explained further to the teen, “All they know is that there is a nearby farm in dire need of repairs. They’ve heard recently from an anonymous source that a family of four will be rebuilding it soon, and that’s all they  _ need _ to know.” 

“But what if someone starts asking too many questions? Or starts poking around?” Tommy asks, concern shining brightly from his pale baby blues.

Philza merely smiles and pats the teen’s shoulder, “You let Techno and I worry about that okay?” An air of foreboding wafts through the chilly autumn breeze and Tommy feels a shiver ride up to his spine at his father’s words. The teen nods hesitantly and Phil smiles and tugs him along. 

It doesn’t take long for the two to catch up with Tommy’s older brothers. They quickly wade through the unkempt overgrown bushes that had sprung up beneath the towering assortment of trees. Tommy spots Techno and Wilbur loitering not too far ahead, both seemingly slack-jawed in awe at the sight before them.

Tommy follows their gaze and quickly mimics their expressions. A disgruntled sigh passes through his lips at the sight of his childhood home.

Vines had weaved themselves all around the crumbling homestead. Patches of different shades of green engulfing the rotted wood paneling. And yes, while the foundation and framework of the house  _ appeared _ sturdy, Tommy could tell that a  _ lot _ of work would need to be put into the house to make it habitable again.

Tommy is the first to speak, “Gods...We’re in way over our heads...This will take fuckin’ ages to fix!” Wil nods in agreement, rubbing his forehead as if a headache had suddenly sprung up.

“Look, I know it may seem that way, but with the four of us working together we’ll be done in no time!” Philza says confidently, placing his hands on his hips. Tommy didn’t understand how his dad could be so blindingly sure of himself. He himself was shit at building, he had no idea how to fix an entire house! Ghostbur had built his tent and Logstedshire. He’d had plans for building a hotel in the future, but there was no way he was going to be the one to build it.

This is going to be fucking impossible…

Tommy leaves his family behind and moves closer to the homestead. He has to duck under the door frame to get inside due to the top of it having crumpled, causing the entire frame to sag. Looking inside, the house is singed and charred from top to bottom. He takes a careful step forward and lets out an embarrassing squawk when a section of the floor crumples like sand beneath his feet. A hand shoots out from behind him and grabs the back of his shirt, quickly pulling him back to safety. The teen turns around and finds it was Wil who’d come to his rescue, not that he’d ever admit it.

Tommy quickly steadies himself and uses his hands to brush himself off, ignoring the burning of the tips of his ears. He hears Wilbur chuckle behind him, “The floors will definitely be the first thing we fix.”

“I’m the lightest out of all of us, too. How the hell are we supposed to do this?”

Wilbur shakes his head, “No idea, but we are sleeping in the barn tonight, it seems that it sustained the least amount of damage.”

“I’m guessing by tomorrow, Dad will have us slaving away,” Tommy grumbles and then jolts when he feels a hand on his back. An unwelcome shiver coils uncomfortably up his spine. He doesn’t understand its meaning.

“Oh no, we’re starting  _ now _ ,” Philza says with a sly grin. “This is child labour, Phil.” Tommy quips and Phil laughs, “Well then, it's a good thing there's no law enforcement anywhere near here. Also, you’re my kid, so it doesn’t really count.”

Tommy lets out a cry of disapproval when he notices his father is desperately trying not to laugh.  _ Oh, he’s joking, well at least about the child labour bit.  _ His features soften and he smiles meekly. Suddenly with the conversation over, the teen is thrown back into his head. He realizes that the sudden touch like the one his dad had given him was triggering an unwelcome memory. Echos of harsh slaps and brutal kicks to the stomach cause a wave of nausea to crash over him. Tommy shoves a hand over his mouth and bolts out the door, promptly emptying his stomach into a nearby batch of peonies.

Once he’s finished heaving and retching out his lunch, shame boils in his chest.  _ What the fuck? Everything is fine. I’m not in danger. Don’t be so fucking sensitive, you twat. _

“Toms? You alright bud?” He can feel the hand approach him before it even gets within a meter of him. Tommy flips backward without thinking and dodges the gentle feel of a comforting pat on the back. 

Philza’s eyes soften and he takes a step back, hands raised in surrender.

“You know, Technoblade had the same problem when I first adopted him.” Tommy’s eyebrow quirks up in confusion at his father’s words. “Anytime I’d accidentally brush against him or pat his back before he knew I was there would send him flying across the room in sheer panic. I’m guessing you’re having the same issue. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Toms. Trauma is just weird like that.”

“But why now? I was fine before…” Tommy asks, frustration leaking from his tone.

“It could be a lot of things, but my guess is that so much stuff has been going on recently that you really haven’t had a chance to process what you went through. Now that you’re truly safe, you have time to think, time to begin healing. And unfortunately, time for your triggers to surface.”

“What are you, some kind of therapist?” Tommy quips, desperately trying to change the subject.

“Nope, it’s just that all my kids have been severely traumatized. I know I wasn’t there before but I’m here now and I’m always here to talk if you need to.” Philza says, raising a hand to scratch the back of his neck.

“Just...warn me when you’re behind me, please. Sorry, I just...get startled I guess.” Tommy looks down at the grass, his nose wrinkles in disgust at the smell of vomit.

“Don’t apologize, Toms. We’ll get through this, okay?” His father beams at him and Tommy wonders when Phil became so blindingly optimistic.

“Okay,” Tommy replies after a long moment. Phil moves to instinctively pat him on the shoulder, but hesitates and eventually lets his hand drop.

Guilt burns in Tommy’s gut. He can’t help but feel like he’s already asking for too much. The teen shrugs awkwardly and heads back inside.

Looking in, Wilbur and Techno are already working hard at prying away the rotted floor, revealing a small gap underneath that leads to the foundation. 

Tommy rolls up his sleeves and grabs a discarded crowbar. Good, he could use a distraction.

The four work late into the evening as they scrap and pry away most of the floor. They are careful however to not disturb the pillars that help hold up the home, lest the house come crashing down upon all of them.

It’s around eight when it becomes too dark to work any further. Sweat drips down Tommy’s forehead and exhaustion seeps into his bones as he admires the large pile of scrap wood they’d carved up.

Most like, tomorrow they would begin scavenging for new wood to replace the floors. The sooner they got that in, the sooner they would be free from sleeping in the barn.

The teen wonders if his old room was still intact. Looking up he could see the overlook and faintly spot the door to his bedroom in the dark. From what he could tell, the upstairs looked significantly better than the downstairs, for some reason. You would think that the rot would begin up there rather than on the ground floor.

A yawn creeps up on Tommy and he can hear Technoblade chuckle, “Gettin’ tired, beanpole?”

Annoyed, Tommy quickly flips his brother off and then signs back jokingly,  _ “Yeah, tired of looking at your ugly mug.” _

Technoblade is swift to sign back,  _ “Rude.” _

“Alright that’s enough out of you two, c’mon guys it’s time for bed,” Wilbur says, rolling his eyes.

Technoblade and Tommy take turns elbowing each other in the ribs as they follow Wilbur to the barn. Tommy was surprised by just how intact the barn was. Yeah, it was slightly charred and there were many holes in the roof, but overall the barn was still holding strong after six years of disuse.

Tommy spots a nearby fresh hay bale that had been patted down into a comfortable-looking pile. Looking to the other side of the barn, Tommy finds a similar one meant for two people. The teen walks over sluggishly and promptly collapses in exhaustion. Wilbur follows and crashes down next to him, meanwhile Phil and Technoblade bunk together on the other pile, both completely drained and tired.

Tommy lays back down, and as soon as his head rests comfortably against the soft hay, he’s out like a light.

—————————————————————

_ Clip...splash….clap….splish…. _

Wilbur’s feet tread throughout the damp cave, water splashing at his ankles with every step. His fingers trail against the wall as he spots a faint light nearby. He follows it wordlessly until he reaches a room lit up only by a dim torch. In it sits an oaken chair, a crafting table, and...a button stuck firmly against the stone wall. A figure sits quietly in the chair, clothed in a familiar cloak and beanie. Wilbur can spot dark curls similar to his own poking out of the hat.

It’s him.

The man mumbles quietly to himself and as he grows closer it becomes more coherent.

“It doesn’t exist...all gone...it’s gone. They don’t understand...they could never…Tommy could never…”

From the shadows, Wilbur spots a nearby mirror and catches a ghostly imitation of himself looking back. Ghostbur. He hovers closer to the insane brunette watching in horror as his own death unfolds 

Suddenly his past self lunges towards the wall, stopping only mere inches from the button.

“ _ The thing that I built this nation for doesn’t exist anymore!”  _ He yells out madly to himself before he drops an octave and he speaks, “ **_It’s over.”_ **

_ “What are you doing? _ ” Someone calls from behind and both Wilbur’s turn to find their...er  _ his  _ father looking at him in horror. His past self cringes back in shock and sputters,

“I know this looks bad...but...um..” Wilbur hesitates his hand inches away from the instrument of his own demise.

“Uh..huh.” His father hesitates just outside the door, careful to not make any sudden movements.

“Do you know...what this button is?” His past self asks, fear and insanity clouding his dark brown eyes.

Philza steps forward slowly, his hands raised as to not alarm his son, “Yes, I do. Please back up, Wil.”

Wilbur ignores him and continues monologing, “Have you heard...the song...on the walls?”

The ghost looks around in shock at the numerous lyrics that were painstakingly carved into the stone walls. If he squinted, he could see dried blood buried in the cracks. Wilbur gulps, terrified but utterly curious as to what is about to happen. He knows that his father was the one to end his life but the moments leading up to it were a fuzzy memory.

“...there WAS a special place, but it’s not there anymore.” His living memory continues, Alivebur as Tommy called it.

_ “ _ It _ is  _ there, Wil,” Philza interjects, taking another shaky step forward. “You’ve just won it back...C’mon kid, let’s talk about this, okay?”

Alivebur’s hand slams against the wall, narrowly missing the button by mere centimeters, “Dad, I’m always  _ so close  _ to pressing this button! I’ve been here...like seven or eight times...I’ve been here...”

Philza visibly flinches back a step and Wilbur hears a shaky sigh exits his lips. The winged man steels himself and regains his lost footing and takes another step forwards.

_ “ _ I’ve been here  _ so _ many times...” Rocket fire and explosions echo from outside the stone room and Wilbur vaguely remembers Tommy talking about Technoblade spawning Withers that day. __

“They’re fighting...do you hear it? They’re fighting right now.” Alivebur chuckles darkly, his fingers dancing across the button.

“And you want to just...blow it all up?” His father asks, fear lacing his tone. The man stands behind the chair, almost close enough to grab his crazed son.

“Yeah, yeah I do.” Alivebur’s voice is shaky but Wilbur can sense the truth ringing behind it.

“You fought so hard to get this land back, Wil.” Philza tries to reason but Alivebur’s head shoots up and Wilbur can see the resolve solidified in his eyes.

“You know, there was a saying, Phil. By a traitor, called Eret.” The brunette fingers dig around the edges of the button and a trembling breath exhales from his parted lips. His father’s eyes widen and he lunges for him.

_ “ _ **_It was never meant to be._ ** _ ”  _ He presses the button.

Philza wraps his wings around Alivebur, shielding him as the world explodes.

Wilbur’s feet phase through the floor and he tries to reach for his dad before the shrapnel can tear at his wings.

He hits the ground and crumples onto a hardwood flooring.

_ What? _

Wilbur blinks, dazed at the sudden shift in scenery. The stone walls melt into a familiar blue wallpaper and he slowly realizes he’s jumped again.

He’s home. At least he had been many years ago. Wilbur stands up and walks towards the mirror that hung on his door. Before him stands a much younger version of himself, no older than fourteen. His hair looked to be just recently cut as his bangs hung just above his eyes.

He was clothed in a blue t-shirt and a pair of flannel pajamas pants. It seemed that he’d just woken up. Looking out the window, the world is dark. So why is he awake?

_ What horrors could this memory hold? _

There’s a light knock on the door and Wilbur hesitates before opening the door. He looks down and smiles.

Before him stands a child, he appeared to be six-years-old. _Tommy_. A stuffed bear is clutched in the boy’s hands and his face is wet with tears.

Wilbur kneels down to Tommy and opens his arms. Instantly the child, runs into them, clinging to his older brother.

“What is it, Toms? Did you have a nightmare?” Wilbur asks. The boy shakes his head and mumbles into his shoulder.

“No, Wilby. I heard scary noise. It’s coming from downstairs. I can’t find Dad. Can we wake Blade?”

_ A scary noise? Is that why he’s reliving this memory.  _ Fear floods through him, he has no idea what this memory could be, but he decides it’s best to comply with Tommy’s wishes before he’s thrown into another time.

“Sure thing, Tommy. Can I pick you up?” The child nods and Wilbur instantly hoists him into his arms. Tommy buried his face into the crook of Wilbur’s shoulder and Wil smiles as he gently creeps out of the room. 

He listens carefully for unfamiliar footsteps as he tiptoes along the banister. He cautiously opens the door to Techno’s room, bracing himself for the piglin to mistake him as an intruder. What happens instead is an arm lunges outside the door and pulls the two inside quickly.

The siblings are unceremoniously hurled onto their brother's torn-up carpet. Wilbur instinctively shields Tommy from the falls, slamming his own head against the floor.

“Ow,” he hissed, rubbing his scalp. He looks up to see his twelve-year-old brother glaring down at him, a diamond axe in hand.

_ “ _ What _ the fuck  _ are you two doing?!” Technoblade whispers angrily, helping Wilbur up onto his feet.

“We heard bad noise.” Tommy whimpers and Techno’s glare softens. He kneels down next to the child and whispers softly to himself, “I knew I wasn’t just hearin’ shit...”

“Where’s Dad? Is he not back from his hunting trip, yet?” Techno looks up at Wil, who sighs and rubs the back of his neck.

“I don’t think so, Tommy said he couldn’t find him and I haven’t checked downstairs yet. You got a crossbow in here I can use?” Wilbur asked, already digging through his brother’s things.

_ “Pfff... _ you sure you know how to use one?” Techno snorts and Wilbur turns to glare at him. He’s about to reply with something petty when a crashing sound from downstairs has Wilbur immediately bearing down protectively over his brothers.

He places a finger to his lips and Technoblade nods and hands him a loaded crossbow. The teen turns to Tommy and whispers quietly,

“Go hide under the bed, Toms. When you hear me whistle that means it’s safe to come out, okay?”

The child pouts and Wil could tell he was about to argue. Technoblade suddenly kneels next to Tommy and says quietly, “I know you want to help us but whoever is out there might be really scary and bad. We don’t want you to get hurt, Theseus. Please listen to Wil, go and hide.”

The boy’s face flickers with conflicting emotion, but finally, resignation sits upon his expression. Tommy nods and tiptoes to the bed. Wil watches as the child easily curls beneath the bed frame and becomes hidden from view.

Wilbur turns to his younger brother and motions him to follow. Together they gently creep down the stairs, being careful to avoid every creaky step as they tread downwards. Once they make it to the bottom the two spread out, clearing every room without finding any sign of an intruder.

Confusion furrows atop Wilbur’s brow and he frowns, “I could have  _ sworn _ I heard something...”

“Maybe it came from outside? Because I know I heard something fall down and Dad isn’t home obviously.” Technoblade affirms and Wil nods. He motions his brother to stand behind him and carefully creaks open the front door.

A surprised yelp escapes his lips when a figure that was pressed up against the door slumps on top of him. Surprise morphs into panic as he’s crushed under the weight of the adult.

Wilbur is struggling to free himself when suddenly Technoblade gasps.

Wil turns his head towards his brother, half expecting a knife to be shoved through the lanky teen. Thankfully he’s mistaken, but as he looks forward he finally recognizes the man who’d fallen on top of him.

A strangled cry exits his throat as the horrifying realization hits him.

_ It’s his father. _

“Dad!” Wilbur screams as he finally manages to wriggle out from underneath him. He flips his father onto his back and as he looks down at his own hands he sees that they are covered in blood. Blood that is not his own.

“Technoblade! Move!” Wil yells at his shell-shocked brother. Techno blinks up at him blankly and then suddenly slaps himself. 

The teen falls to his knees and crawls towards his injured father.

“No, Techno! Go and call Bad! Tell him it’s an emergency! I need you to focus okay?” Wilbur says, trying to keep his shaky voice steady.

Technoblade looks up at him with watery eyes but nods and stumbles towards the kitchen.

Now that he’s alone, Wilbur is able to identify the source of the blood. His father’s abdomen has two large entry wounds. From a knife perhaps? The wound is gushing and panic shoots through the teen’s veins as he realizes his father will soon bleed out if he doesn’t clog the wound.

Wilbur races to the couch and grabs a white bedsheet that had been freshly cleaned mere hours ago. He silently hopes his dad won’t be too mad about ruining the bedsheet. Looking down at Phil, he’s pretty sure the man won’t care.

Wil places the sheet over his abdomen, but not before unbuttoning the top part of his yukata. He swiftly flips Phil onto his side with a great amount of effort and weaves the cloth around his body twice. Finally, he ties the knot tightly atop his stomach and then uses both hands to try and stop the bleeding.

“Techno! Did Bad answer?!” Wilbur screams, tears freely streaming down his face and clogging his throat.

“Yeah! Dream and Bad are on their way!” Technoblade responds.

“Go get Tommy, but make sure he doesn’t see Dad! He doesn’t need to see this and neither do you!”

“Wil, I’m not a child!” 

Wilbur whips his head around and yells a bit too harshly, “Yes you are! Fucking  _ listen _ to what I’m telling you!  _ Go. Get. Tommy.” _

“Pa...pa?” A small voice rings out from the top of the staircase. Wilbur looks up in horror as he spots his younger brother with tears streaming freely down his cheeks and the look of horror written plainly across his face.

“Don’t look, Toms! Dad’s gonna be alright! Don’t look, bud,” Technoblade cries and hurried up the stairs. He picks up the sobbing child who eagerly buried his face into Techno’s shoulder.

“Gods...please hurry Dream...please hurry...” Wilbur sobs quietly, a choked cry falls from his lips, the wound is bleeding too quickly. He can’t stop the blood.

_ I can’t stop the blood. Oh, gods...Papa, please don’t leave us. Please don’t leave me. _

A knock at the door has Wilbur lunging at the doorknob. He quickly opens it and his body sags in relief when Dream’s unmasked eyes bore into his. 

Sobs rip from his throat as the teen falls to his knees in grief.

_ It’s not real. Or is it? Did this actually happen? No, Phil is alive. He has to have lived through this. Then why do I feel so helpless... _

Dream engulfs the teen into his arms, trying to console him the best he can. Another familiar face comes into view as he looks past Clay’s shoulder.

It’s Badboyhalo. Beside him, George and Sapnap. Relief and terror meld together and numbness quickly follows, allowing the teen a brief hiatus from the agonizing pain of watching his father, his protector, bleed freely onto the wooden floor.

“Go join your brothers on the stairs, Wilbur. We’ll take care of your Dad, alright?” Badboyhalo says, wiping away a few tears from Wilbur’s cheeks. The teen nods and he pulls away from Dream. He looks over at his brothers and sees Technoblade rocking Tommy in his arms, sobs wracking his narrow shoulders.

Wilbur races up the stairs, desperate to reach the two. But the moment his hand lands on Techno’s shoulder a force pulls him back.

“No! No! Stop! Please! I need to let them know it’s going to be okay!” Wilbur cries, hopelessly trying to reach his brothers who are quickly fading from view.

_ Wil...  _

Tommy’s voice is faint in his ears, but slowly becoming louder as the boy calls out to him.

“Tommy!” Wilbur screams, his vision blurred as he’s plunged into darkness.

_ Wilbur! _

“I can hear you, but I can’t find you! Where are you! Don’t leave me alone!”

_ Wake up, Wil! You’re having a nightmare. _

_ “What?”  _

Wilbur suddenly jolts awake, sweat dripping heavily down his face. His breathing heavy and erratic as the world begins to come into view.

The first thing he sees in the darkness is baby blue eyes staring at him in concern.

_ Tommy. _

Wilbur is quick to pull the teen to his chest before Tommy can object. He buries his face into Tommy’s shoulder, weeping freely. Tommy is tense at first, but slowly the teen melts into the hug and runs cautious fingers through Wilbur's dark curls.

“What is it Wil? What’s wrong?” Tommy murmurs into his shoulder.

“I couldn’t reach you...I couldn’t reach you or Techno. I failed.. _.I failed _ ...” Wilbur sobs incoherently and Tommy shakes his head.

“Hey...Hey...it’s alright. Look at me, Wil.” Tommy says and Wilbur reluctantly looks up. The teen smiles and places Wilbur’s hand onto his chest, right atop his heart.

“You reached me. You didn’t fail. I’m right here.”

A mixture between a cry and laugh bubbles from Wilbur’s chest and he uses his sleeve to wipe away the tears that stained his pale cheeks.

“I saw another memory tonight, two actually...”

_ “What were they?” Tommy asks hesitantly. _

“The first? I saw my death and the conversation that took place before it between Dad and me. I saw...I saw the explosion and tried to reach Phil...but I couldn’t. Then I fell into another memory.” Wilbur explains, pausing briefly to clear his rear-clogged throat.

“Shit...what was the next one?” 

“I saw...Dad...seriously injured. You were just a child and one night Phil got stabbed and made it home just before he collapsed.” 

Tommy pales and his eyes widen, glazed over as he remembers the night Wilbur is referring to.

_ “Oh...”  _ Tommy whispers in the darkness.

“Do you remember that night? The memory didn’t really give me a lot of contexts...or closure.”

“I do...” Tommy begins, he shudders briefly before he continues, “Dad was on a trip to the nether that day, he promised he’d be home before dark. Obviously, he didn’t return until late that night.”

Wilbur nods, recollecting that it had been around three in the morning when Tommy had come to the door.

“His gold helmet had broken while fighting a Hoglin, then the piglins he’d been trading with swarmed him. He managed to fend them off but not before they got a few good licks in. He had almost made it to the portal when a brute appeared from behind the portal. Dad got stabbed twice but was able to teleport back to the overworld just in time.”

“I’m guessing then he tried to get back to the house?” Wilbur asks and Tommy nods, affirming his suspicion.

“He made it back and began to bang on the door, waking me up. I ran to your room and told you and I guess you remembered the rest.”

“Not all of it, the dream cut off just before I reached you and Technoblade curled up on the stairs. What happened after that?”

“You reached us. You did. After that? Dream, George, Sapnap, and Bad patched Dad up. Phil woke up two days later.” Tommy finishes, he turns briefly to wipe away a few tears of his own.

_ “Gods... _ I don’t know if I can do this...” Wilbur whimpers and puts his head in his hands.

“Do what?” Tommy asks, befuddled.

_ “Remember. _ I didn’t realize I had so many bad memories. They just keep coming and then in the morning, I’m a complete  _ wreck _ . It’s making me paranoid and fucking terrified of going to bed,” Wilbur exhales a shaky breath.

“You need to remember though. I know these memories are fucking painful, trust me I share most of them, but you can’t give up!” Tommy’s voice nearly raises to a shot and Wilbur has to shush him for fear of waking Techno and Phil.

“I know...I know...” Wil hisses back, “But it’s not spaced out, you know? It’s night after night! Torturous events that I was blissfully unaware of...it’s eating me alive...” 

Wil picks at a stray string from his sweatshirt, gently unraveling between his fingers. He looks up a Tommy, waiting for a response that doesn’t come.

“Do you know what I dreamt the other night?” Wilbur asks and Tommy’s gaze meets his own, his bottom lip quivering.

“I saw the way I treated you when we lived in Pogtopia. I was fucking awful to you. If that’s who Alivebur was then I don’t think I want him back.”

“That’s not who you were, Wil. You’d lost your mind at that point. You were paranoid and scared, and you would’ve done anything you could to prevent me from leaving.” Tommy states, “But the thing is,  _ I never would have left _ . It wasn’t even an option in my mind. I would’ve stayed with you even if it meant every now and then you’d verbally berate me.”

_ “ _ Tommy _...no.”  _ Wilbur pulls at his hair while shaking his head, “That’s not right! No child or teen or whatever should ever put up with that shit! You should’ve left me to rot!”

_ “ _ You were all I had,  _ how could I?” _

_ “Is that how you felt when you were with Dream?”  _ Wilbur asks, and Tommy freezes. Slowly the boy nods and he drops his head to his chest.

“Then I was just as evil...” Wilbur admits, a silent sob wracks his body. “I don’t want to be that!”

“No! No! You’re not evil, Wil! You never were...you were just.. _.lost.” _

“That’s not an excuse.”

“What fucking difference does it make? I mean, really. You  _ died _ , Wil. This is your chance to be different, to be better than Alivebur. Just because you were shitty at the end doesn’t mean all of what you used to be was bad.”

Wilbur’s hands fall into his lap, the kid had a point, “I hate that your right. And I hate myself for how I’ve hurt people.”

“Then make it right.  _ Be fucking better _ . Learn from the mistakes you made. And go to sleep.” Tommy says, firmly. Wilbur sits there for a long moment, fiddling with the ball of string he’s created. All twisted and messed up just like him. Finally, he rips off the tag and nods.

_ Be better. Do it for Tommy. Do it for all the people I’ve hurt. Be better. _

With that thought he opens his arms and smiles as Tommy curls up next to him, his head resting on his shoulder.

The two lean back into the hayloft and it isn’t long before Tommy is snoring quietly beside him. Looking up, Wilbur can see the starry night sky through a wide hole in the roof.

The night is clear and the moon is high in the sky, shining down a soft light onto his features.

Wilbur smiles, eyes slowly growing heavy as sleep begins to take over.

_ Please...no more nightmares. Just let me rest. _

And of course, his wish is not granted as traumatic memories flood his subconscious, tormenting him until long after the sun has risen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU GET TRAUMA! YOU GET TRAUMA! EVERYONE GETS TRAUMA!
> 
> wilbur fucking turned into botw link and im okay with that.
> 
> anyway prepare for tommy's trauma to commence in full.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you enjoyed! They really help motivate me and help get chapters out faster!
> 
> holy crap comments are like coal for a train...


	12. Here Is the Place Where I Love You.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if you couldn't already tell I CHANGED THE TITLE. The new title comes from Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift! It's a hauntingly beautiful song about trauma and grief and I liked it so much better than the old title.
> 
> Also this chapter was SUPPOSED to be about Tommy but my brain said otherwise.
> 
> Anyway, this is definitely my favorite chapter.

Wilbur wakes the next morning with a pounding headache. His dreams had been plagued all night with ghastly figures of the past that threatened to shatter his spirit and mind. Sleep was sounding less and less appealing with each night that went by.

Looking over to his right, he found his younger brother still snuggled up atop his arm that had long since fallen asleep. He winced as pins and needles shot up his forearm and shoulder.

“Toms. Tommy wake up, you're crushing my arm.” Wilbur says softly, gently shaking the boy.

Tommy groans as he’s awoken, glaring at Wilbur grumpily before sitting up. The teen yawns and tries to rub the sleep from his eyes.

“Mmm...what time is it?” He asks, his voice scratchy and rough.

“I think it’s a little after nine. Dad and Technoblade are already back at the house.” Wilbur says, resting his chin against his knees.

Tommy stretches his arms out wide and yawns again. Then the boy stands to his feet and extends a hand to help Wilbur up.

“Did...um...did you have any more nightmares?” Tommy asks carefully, and Wilbur’s silence is all the answer he needs.

“Well...let’s not keep them waiting I guess,” Tommy mutters beneath his breath and then walks out of the barn with Wilbur in tow.

—————————————————————

“Good morning boys!” Philza says cheerfully as Tommy and Wilbur stumble groggily into the house.

“Hey, Dad.” Wilbur says, “What’s the agenda for the day?”

“Well, Technoblade is out right now chopping down trees and could probably use an extra pair of hands. Tommy, you up for it?” His father asks.

And while a part of the teen wanted to say no and run back to the warm and cozy barn, he responds instead with, “Yeah sure, have fun you two.”

“Lunch is around eleven, okay? Make sure you're both back by then. And here,” Philza hands the teen his own netherite axe. Tommy eyes it in amazement, the only other axe that could top its splendor would be Technoblade’s  _ Axe of Peace. _

“You sure? What if I break it?” The teen asks, not trusting himself with something so valuable.

“You could chop a million trees with that ax and it wouldn’t break, Tommy. And I trust you, so yeah take it.” 

A warmth swells in Tommy’s chest and he beams at his father.

“Thanks, Dad.”

Philza reaches out a hand hesitantly as if asking permission and Tommy nods. His father’s shoulders relax and he smiles as he ruffles his hair.

“Alright, get a move on. And stay close to your brother, okay?” 

Tommy nods and heads out the door. 

As soon as the warm sun hits his face he takes a deep breath, relishing the cool autumn air that floods into his lungs. He looks around at the massive oaken forest that surrounds his home, hiding it away from those who would threaten to harm him.

In the distance he could see his older brother chopping away at a particularly large tree, his face calm as the piglin intensely focuses on his task.

Next to him sits a large pile of neatly stacked logs. Tommy lets a small smile grace his features as he jogs over to Techno. The piglin spots the boy coming towards him and eagerly waves him over.

“Hey, Tommy. Ready to help?” Techno asks, flipping his axe expertly in his hands. 

“Ugh, I hate chopping wood. My arms always feel like they're going to fall off by the end.”

“That’s just because you’re scrawny, kid. You need to eat more protein and drink a shit ton of milk,” Techno snorts and buries his axe deep into the tree. He jerks it backward and the axe follows leaving behind a deep crevice in the side of the tall oak.

“Noted. How much wood do we need?” Tommy asks, letting his own axe crack into the side of a thick birch tree. 

“At least triple the size of my pile.” Techno answers gruffly. Tommy groans, they’ll be here all day.

The loud sounds of axes hacking away into trees fill the silence as they spend the next several hours chopping away. 

It’s early evening by the time they finish. Sweat has long since soaked through Tommy’s shirt and he’s beyond exhausted. Unfortunately, their job was only half done.

Technoblade spots the kid wobbling unsteady on his feet and quickly reaches into his pack.

“Here take this before you fall over,” Techno says and hands him a potion of speed. Tommy practically snatches it from his hand and chugs it greedily. The effect is almost in standouts as all his energy surges back, of course, this effect is only temporary and the moment it wears off, the teen is likely to pass out. Such is the consequence of potions.

“Alright, you take the rear and let me know immediately if you feel like you're going to drop it.” Techno states as he begins to lift the end of one of the logs. Tommy nods and grabs the other end. He’s able to shift his shoulder beneath the log and pushes up. It takes a couple of attempts but eventually he’s hoisted the log on top of his shoulder.

“You ready?” Tommy hears Technoblade call from the front. “Yeah, go!” Tommy answers.

They take it slow as they plod back to the house. His shoulder is screaming by the time they make it and his stomach sinks as he turns briefly to look back at the hefty pile. Instead, he’s met with the sight of a ghostly apparition staring back at him. Familiar brown eyes boring into his as the man entraps his gaze. Tommy spots glints of red rusting against his brown hair. Horns.

“Tommy! Move your ass!” Technoblade shouts and Tommy scrambles ahead, still not taking his eyes off the figure for fear it might leave. As soon as they set the log firmly on the ground, Technoblade turns to shout at him but quickly cuts off when he, too, spots the ghost.

“Tommy, go inside,” Techno says quietly, but Tommy shakes his head. The ghost steps forward, gliding eerily across the plain. His brother places a hand against his chest, pushing him behind him. The teen peeks over his arm as he examines the apparition of a former enemy.

The father of his best friend and the former president/dictator of L’manburg. 

Jschlatt.

Technoblade brandishes his axe at the ghost and a hysterical laugh bursts through Tommy’s lips before he could choke it down. “What the fuck are you gonna do? Axe him to death? He’s already dead, Tech.”

“Any chance you have a crucifix on you, Theseus?” Technoblade whispers and Tommy snorts. He pushes past his brother's arm just as Schlatt reaches them. 

Schlatt is still clothed in the suit he wore when he died, but it’s entirely monochromatic along with the rest of him. The brown hair he thought he spotted turns out to be dark gray. In fact the only trace of color Jschlatt shows is the gleaming red horns that curl around his ears and dull brown eyes, clouded by death. Dried blood trickles at the edges of his mouth, matted into his chops. He looked younger than he’d been when he died as if he’d reverted back to his early twenties.

Techno is the first to speak, “I would say it's good to see you Schlatt but I’d be lying. What do you want?”

Schlatt’s gaze passes through him as he ignores the piglin completely, instead, he looks at Tommy. His mouth parts and his brow furrowed in confusion.

“Tommy?” His voice echoes softly with every word, “Is that you?”

“Uh, yeah?” Tommy answers, confused. Could he not see him?

“You’re all grown up...does that mean...no…” Schlatt mutters and now Tommy is really confused.

“I mean he’s only sixteen, I wouldn’t call that  _ grown _ .” Techno quips and then yelps when he’s elbowed harshly in the ribs.

“Sixteen? No that can’t be right...then that means...Tubbo…” Schlatt looks away and begins pacing back and force.

“Tubbo? What about him?” Suddenly Schlatt turns and Tommy nearly screams, his eyes have vanished from view leaving only gaping black holes that ooze a black sludge.

“My son...where is my son? I’ve lost him. Please. Help me find him.” Schlatt begs and then wraps a freezing hand around Tommy’s forearm. Suddenly Technoblade bangs the edge of his axe against the side of the house, creating a jarring banging noise that makes Tommy jump. 

“Please...let go. I can’t tell you, Schlatt.” Tommy whimpers and Schlatt’s expression turns to one of rage.

“Tell me! Tell me where he is! I know you know, Thomas. Where is Tubbo?!” Schlatt shrieks, his hand tightens as he digs his nails into his pale skin. 

“I can’t! You killed him last time! I won’t let you near him!” Tommy screams, desperately trying to pry the fingers away. Technoblade helps as he too tries to loosen Jschlatt’s grip.

Suddenly his expression softens and then turns to one of denial, “Kill him? My son? I would never hurt Tubbo. I would never. Please, Tommy, tell me where my boy is. I need to protect him.”

“Phil! Wilbur! Hurry the fuck up!” Technoblade yells behind him.

“You never protected him! You locked him in a box and forced my brother to shoot him! You’re a monster!” Tommy shouts, his voice beginning to choke with tears. Suddenly, Jschlatt releases his hold and for a moment Tommy thinks he’s safe. Then suddenly transparent hands turn solid and latch around his neck as he’s lifted three feet in the air. His airway is shoved closed and he lets out a choked cry.

“LIAR! YOU’RE A LIAR! I would never hurt him! I love him! He’s my boy...” Jschlatt roars and then slams Tommy against the wall, hands still wrapped tightly around his throat as he tries to choke the life out of him.

“Schlatt stop! Get your fucking hands off my son!” Tommy hears Phil scream, but his vision has already gone blurry as he begins to quickly run out of oxygen, his lips starting to turn blue. His lungs burn as he desperately tries to inhale.

Suddenly a figure slams into Jschlatt and sends him crashing into the ground. Tommy falls to the ground coughing and sputtering, clawing at his throat. Air violently shoves its way back into Tommy’s throat and as he exhales vomit and blood spews onto the ground. Tommy hacks and retches as he tries to inhale as much air as possible. Hands land on his back and Tommy jolts backward, frightened. Looking up he finds Phil and Techno looking at him in concern. He turns back to Schlatt and is shocked when he spots Wilbur pinning the ghost to the ground.

Jschlatt hisses like a venomous snake as he spews hurtful curses at the teen. Wilbur tightens his hold on him and then socks him in the jaw. “Don’t you  _ ever  _ touch him! He’s just trying to protect Tubbo. Fuck you!” Wilbur screeches.

“No! He did something! That little shit is nothing but trouble! Just like you, Wilbur! Just like you!”

“He didn’t do anything Schlatt, I did.” Philza walks over to where Schlatt’s head is and kneels down.

“What do you mean? What did you do to my child!?” Schlatt cries and Phil purses his lips in disgust.

“It’s not about what I did, it's about what you  _ failed _ to do. You abandoned him. Don’t you remember? For three fucking days you left him  _ alone _ in that apartment, locked in his room because he’d gotten on your nerves. He was a child! Barely eight-years-old!  _ Tommy found him  _ passed out from dehydration and hunger.” Schlatt raged against Wilbur’s hold spitting out profuse denials. 

“And then, when you finally stumbled back home. You found him gone because _ I  _ took him home. And then I never trusted you to be within five feet of him ever again. I wasn’t going to let you abuse that boy anymore.”

“I never hit him! I never did! I only ever loved him” Schlatt tried to explain and Philza scoffed, “You may not have harmed him physically, but it took me months to get Tubbo to stop hoarding food under his bed. I wonder why that is? Because  _ you _ , were always too fucking drunk to remember to get groceries. So no, Schlatt. We won’t tell you where Tubbo is.”

“Please, Phil...please. Let me fix it...let me fix it... I need to tell him how sorry I am. I fucked up, I know I did.” Schlatt begs, the sludge streaming down his cheeks and Phil spits at him before turning away. Wilbur’s heart clenched painfully, in some ways he could sympathize with Schlatt. He could tell as he looked deep into his eyes that he genuinely wanted to fix things with Tubbo, just as he wanted to do for Fundy.

Still, it wasn’t enough to get Wilbur from insulting him a bit.

“You know, when I was a teenager I looked up to you. But no, you're still just as pathetic as you were the day you died.”

“No more, than you were Wilbur,” Jschlatt growls at him, he rolls onto his back and looks up at the sky, tears prickling at the corners of his eyes.

Phil gently hoists Tommy into his arms once the teen has successfully emptied out his entire stomach of both food and fluids. The boy is limp as he slumps in his father’s arms, his head still dizzy from being deprived of oxygen for so long. He lets his head sag to the side and stares at the spot where Schlatt is lying.

He doesn’t fully understand Schlatt’s rage but it feels deserved. But it doesn’t matter, he would die before he’d give up his best friend to his father. That’s the least he could do for Tubbo.

As Phil, Techno, and Tommy enter the barn, Wilbur hangs back, something pulls at his chest, telling him to stay. Schlatt looks over at him, and Wil could see he was bracing himself.

The former president grits out, “Well, what are you waiting for? You gonna beat the shit out of me or what.”

“Or what…” Wilbur mutters and crouches down next to him. “Tell me Schlatt, and be honest. Why do you want to speak to Tubbo, what are you hoping to gain?”

Schlatt laughs, darkly but Wilbur can hear the pain in his voice, “Peace of mind.” 

Wilbur scoffs and turns to leave when Schlatt grabs his sleeve and stammers, “W-Wait! Please Wil...I’m sorry I hurt Tommy, truly. I just lost control for a moment, I didn’t mean...I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

“He’s just a child Schlatt, younger than Tubbo. He’s been through so much and you’ve just fucked him up even more. Why should I even help you? Why...why am I here? What am I doing…” Wilbur rubs his face with his hands and Schlatt sits up and pries them away. Wil winces as his pale, cold hands burn at his skin.

“You’re a father too, at least in the way that matters, one who wants to make up for the shit you’ve done to your son. We’re not so different, you and I. Even when we were both alive, our ambitions always trumped over love.” Schlatt speaks quickly, he knows he doesn’t have much time before a member of Wil’s family comes to see what’s taking him so long.

“You aren’t wrong there, Schlatt.” Wil sighs, as painful memories resurfaced.

“Look, I know I fucked up. When Tubbo was little I let my greed and ambition get in the way of my love for him. And I  _ do _ love him, no matter how much that little shit pissed me off, I never stopped loving him. And then, when I saw my chance to get him back at the election, I took it. Finally, I had my son home right where he belonged by my side. But he wasn’t happy.” Jschlatt took a deep breath as he continued, “And then when I discovered that Tubbo had been spying for you? It broke my heart and the grief turned to rage. When I had Technoblade execute him, I couldn’t feel anything, I was so numb and very very drunk... And then, afterward once I’d realized what I’d done…”

Schlatt’s voice grew shaky and tears dropped down his cheeks, “I decided death was better than living in a world where I couldn't be his dad.”

Wilbur turned, his own tears threatening to fall.

_ Goddammit. He was really going to do this. _

Jschlatt placed a hand on his shoulder, his fingers digging into the fabric of his sweater as he begged,

_ Jschlatt never begged.  _

“Please... _ please _ , Wil. Let me try to atone for what I’ve done. The guilt...it’s eating me alive.”

Wilbur thought back briefly about the words he said to Tommy last and Schlatt’s own rang a bell of familiarity. They really weren’t that different at all.

Wilbur hung his head in his hands and finally relented.

“Don’t make me regret this, Schlatt. I’m betraying my family by telling you this.”

Schlatt’s eyes lit up with tears and he quickly reassured him, “You won’t! You won’t, I promise!”

“And do me a solid and stay away from Tommy, will you? That kid has enough trauma to last a lifetime. But if I tell you, I need a favor from you.”

“I will, I promise. And yes Wilbur, anything you want. I’ll do it no questions asked.” Jschlatt swore, he clutched Wilbur’s hand in his own, hope sparkling in his eyes. Wil could tell he was being completely genuine for once.

“He’s at the bunker. Quackity, Fundy, and Ranboo are watching over him. But, Dream is lurking around trying to find us. And I know he’s trying to get Tubbo to tell him where we are.”

Schlatt’s eyes darken and he sneers, “What would you have me do Wil?”

Wilbur mimics his expression, “Keep tabs on him for me, make sure he doesn’t discover where we are. And protect Tubbo if you can.”

Jschlatt nods, giving Wilbur’s hand a reassuring squeeze, “I won’t forget what you’ve done for me today, Wil. I know we’ve had our differences in the past but I promise you, you can count on me now.”

“Well then, you better hurry along, Schlatt. Go see your kid.” Schlatt beams and nods as he fades from view. Wilbur feels Jschlatt’s touch linger for a minute before it too, fades. 

Wilbur turns to the barn and sprints back. His brother needed him, now.

—————————————————————

Phil rushes inside the barn and gently sets Tommy in a sitting position on one of the hay beds. Tommy tries to utter out that he’s okay but his words come out hoarse and weak. Techno places a hand on his mouth and says softly, “Don’t try to speak, kid.”

“Phil do we have any ice?” Techno says as he digs through their bags. 

Wilbur burst through the doors and Techno yells, “What the fuck took you so long?”

“Sorry, I had to make something clear to our dear ex-president.” Wilbur grins and Phil turns to him.

“Go get some cool water from the stream, it’s not ideal but it’s all we got.” Wilbur nods and rushes back outside

Phil kneels down in front of Tommy and carefully examines his neck. Already he can see faint blossoms of violet purple and blue splattered across his throat. Nail marks indent into his skin from where Jschlatt dug his fingers in, leaving light streams of crimson running down his neck. 

“God, I would fucking kill him if he wasn’t already dead,” Phil mutters darkly.

“I’d still try to find a way,” Technoblade adds, clenching his fists tightly

_ “How was Wilbur able to touch him?”  _ Tommy signs, given that he apparently won’t be able to talk for a while.

“He’s still somewhat connected to the spiritual plane, I guess. I don’t know how long that’s gonna last but I’m thankful he was able to stop him.” Philza says while wiping away the blood on his neck with his sleeve.

_ “Does it look bad?” _ Tommy asks, gently prodding at his tender neck with his own fingers. Phil quickly bats them away and responds, “It doesn’t exactly look  _ great _ , but I’ve seen worse. I’m more concerned about your voice.”

“Hey! I’m back, I got the water and a couple of rags.” Wilbur says as he jogs into the barn. His lanky sibling kneels next to Phil and passes a damp rag to him.

“I really hope this is enough to reduce the swelling, if not we’ll have to use potions.”

_ “What’s wrong with using potions?” _ Tommy asks, he’d never had any problems with the ones he concocted.

“The ones we have are much more  _ potent _ than the ones you use. They’re meant to be used for serious injuries, and I’d rather avoid using one or otherwise, you’ll be unconscious for the next day.”

_ “Oh.” _ Tommy mouths and curls in on himself. This  _ sucked. _ Why is it that he’s always the one that got hurt? Was it that he was weak? Or is his face just so...Tommy freezes. His gaze locks onto Wilbur’s arms. 

They...they were...melting. Pieces of skin dripping onto the floor and sizzling as it hits the hardwood.

Tommy couldn’t help it and he screams out hoarsely, “Wil! Your arms!”

His throat aches from use but he couldn’t give a shit. Wilbur turned his forearms upside and shrieks as he jolts backward. Philza gasps and snatches a wad of bandages from his bag. He grabs his son’s arm and quickly wraps up one of his forearms. 

Tommy sighs in relief when the bandages hold, solidifying his arms. Phil wraps up the other one and then raises his hands backward as if waiting for his son to fall apart.

After a few minutes of tense waiting, they finally breathe. Techno is the first to ask, “What the  _ fuck _ was that?”

“I don’t...I don’t know...that’s never happened before.” Wil says, eyes wide with terror as he pokes at his bandaged arms.

“I-Its...be..cause of S-Schlatt,” Tommy says, his voice creaky and broken like an old swing set. Phil shushes him, “Stop talking Tommy, you’ll hurt your voice. Just sign okay?”

Tommy nods and quickly spells,  _ “He’s dead. And you’re halfway there, when you touched him he must have tried to drag you back, probably unintentionally.” _

Wilbur gapes at him, confused about how he could’ve possibly guessed that, “That...That’s true, actually. I think, at least.”

“I mean it makes sense, Schlatt tried to get ahold of Ghostbur and rip him away from you,” Techno adds while pressing a cool washcloth against Tommy’s neck.

_ “Don’t fucking do that again. I don’t care whose life is on the line, don’t touch another ghost, Wil.”  _ Tommy signs sternly and Wilbur raises a brow at him.

“I did what I had to do to save you, if I didn’t you’d be dead. I don’t regret it.” Wilbur states and then adds, “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

“D-Don’t!” Tommy yells, his throat burning, “Do...not fuck..ing d-die for..m-me!”

“Tommy, I'm going to have to sedate you if you keep talking!” Philza shouts, shoving a hand over his mouth. Tommy shrieks behind his hand trying to claw it away, he wasn’t finished.

Tommy manages to just barely push the hand away and yells, “T-that...go..es f-for all...of..y-you.”

The teen feels a sharp pain in his arm and the world blurs away.

\---------------------------------------------

The enderman-hybrid sits at the edge of his bed, staring at his black and white converse. Ever since his last blackout, he could hardly sleep. Dark bags sagged beneath his eyes and he felt miserable. Whenever he was able to doze off for a few hours, nightmares haunted his dreams.

Grotesque dreamons and the mutilated bodies of his friends terrorizing him through the night, leaving Ranboo a total mess. The teen shrugs on his hoodie and lets out a loud yawn. He stretches once and shuts off the lights. The enderman walks out into the hallway and heads down the hallway to Tubbo’s room.

He knocks once on the spruce wood door and hears Tubbo’s voice ring out, “Come in.” Ranboo sighs, he could already hear the sadness dripping from his tone. He opens the door and spots his friend sitting solemnly on the edge of his bed.

Ranboo sits next to him and asks, “How are you feeling today, Tubbo? Have you eaten yet?” Ever since Tommy left, Tubbo has hardly eaten a bite. He claimed that he kept getting sick from it but Ranboo knew better. He was stressed to the point of illness. 

“I’m okay and yeah, Fundy already made me breakfast. How about you? I heard you last night, you sounded like you were having a nightmare.”

“Heh, yeah. I’m fine though, just a bad dream.” Ranboo shrugs and then brightens when he thinks of the perfect way to cheer up the brunette.

“How about you and I upgrade the bee farm today? We could expand the glass dome and maybe add a beacon in the middle. What do you think?”

Just as Ranboo predicted, his face lights up and he nods enthusiastically, “Yeah, I'd like that a lot.”

“Alright then, let's head out. We could both do with a little fresh air.” Ranboo says as the two exits the room, and just as he shuts the door he catches a pair of eyes staring at him from the darkness.

The enderman freezes as the familiar green eyes bore into him.

_ It’s not real. _

_ It’s not real. _

_ You’re safe. _

_ He’s just playing games with you. _

_ It’s not real. _

“Ranboo, you okay?” Tubbo asks, looking at the enderman in concern. The teen shudders and closes the door before smiling at the president, “Perfectly fine.”

The two spend the majority of the day expanding the bee farm, adding flecks of yellow glass in the panels, and adding a fully upgraded beacon in the center, with beehives surrounding it. By the time the two finish, it's early evening and they’re both soaked with sweat but smiles are plastered across their faces as they admire their work.

“Wanna go sit on the bench and chill out for a bit?” Tubbo asks and Ranboo chuckles nervously, “I thought that was you and Tommy's place, I don’t want to intrude…”

“Pff...he won’t mind. He’d be glad I have a friend who can look out for me while he can’t.”

Ranboo’s heart warms in his chest as he smiles wobbly, “Dude, I  _ will _ cry.”

“C’mon you, big baby. Fundy left us snacks.” Tubbo giggles, clapping him on the back as the two walks to Tommy’s old home. The house itself has been griefed beyond recognition and since Tommy’s exile, Connor seems to have claimed it.

“Hmm...I’d hate to kick Connor out but I think I’ll have to. That’s Tommy’s  _ home  _ and...and I’m gonna fix it for when he comes back.” Tubbo says confidently. Ranboo places a hand atop the shorter teen’s shoulder and adds, “I’ll help too. We’ll make it really nice. Tommy will love it.”

“Too bad he’ll never get the chance to see it.”

A voice from behind them makes both of the teens jump. Ranboo instinctively pushes Tubbo behind him as he turns. In front of him, stands Dream looking particularly annoyed, still clothed in his iconic green hoodie.

His mask is dirty and cracked and he looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks.

“D-Dream, I thought you weren’t coming till tomorrow.” Tubbo stutters, fidgeting with his hands nervously. Ranboo notices and takes his hand in his own, squeezing it reassuringly.

“Well, I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d just drop by.” Dream hums, looking around Tommy’s old residence. He eyes the bench and sneers.

“Tubbo, didn’t we talk about distancing yourself from Tommy. It’s not healthy for you, kid. He’s nothing but trouble and you are better off not associating with him.”

“That’s not true!” Ranboo’s tone raises into a near yell as defends his absent friend.

“Isn’t it though? Don’t you remember what he was like when he lived here?”

“I do,” Tubbo says shakily. 

“You haven’t been talking to him, have you? He seems to have disappeared from Techno’s along with the rest of them.” Dream asks, moving closer to them. He stalks around the two, examining them. Ranboo and Tubbo both freeze as they feel his harsh gaze criticizing them.

“Ranboo.” His breath catches in his throat, “How have you been?”

“F-Fine. I’m fine.” Ranboo stammers and suddenly Dream stands in front of him, eyeing him the way a teacher would when you misbehaved in class.

“Have you seen Tommy, Ranboo? You were so helpful the last time we spoke.” Dream chuckles, and Tubbo freezes, his hand crushing Ranboo’s within his grip.

“What? What do you mean?” Ranboo asks, the last time he remembered speaking to Dream was when he banished Tommy.

“Relax, kid. I mean the trial. Your defense of Tommy was touching, truly. Of course, it didn’t change my mind about having him exiled. But you helped me see that perhaps if I helped Tommy, maybe he could become a better person.”

Rage burned in Tubbo’s chest.  _ How dare he. How dare he think that he was helping Tommy. _ Tubbo tried to stuff his anger down but it was too much. He was too furious.

“ _Shut. Your. Fucking. Mouth._ ” Tubbo grits out, fire burning in his eyes. Dream reels back for a moment, in complete shock. Even Ranboo was staring at him slack-jawed.

Dream quickly composed himself and hissed, “I’m sorry, what did you just say to me?”

“You heard me, you green bastard. You don’t get to gloss over what you did to Tommy. You destroyed him!” Tubbo shoves Dream backward.

“Every day he’d wake up, dreading that you might stop by. You would beat him, rob him,  _ manipulate him.  _ Don’t fucking lie to me, Dream. You’re a fucking monster and always have been.”

Dream’s eyes flash darkly and Ranboo could see his own rage building. The enderman sees his arm raise about to strike him and leaps in front of Tubbo. Dream cracks him harshly across the face, causing his head to jerk sharply to the side. He lets a choked cry fall from his lips as he staggers backward into Tubbo.

“How  _ dare  _ you. After everything, I’ve done for you Tubbo. And this is how you repay me?!”

The president’s hands wrap around Ranboo and he shields him from another incoming blow.

It doesn’t come.

Instead, he hears a startled yelp followed by the sounds of a struggle.

Tubbo looks up and nearly falls down in shock.

Jschlatt has Dream pinned against him, his arm wrapped tightly around Dream’s neck. He can see the fear in his eyes as the green man tries to pry Schlatt’s arms away, only for his hands to phase through.

“D-Dad?” Tubbo stutters and his father looks at him briefly, guilt staining his eyes. The guilt turns to rage as he turns back to Dream.

“Now listen here,  _ Clay _ . If I ever see you put your hands on  _ my son _ or any of his friends, I will not hesitate to _drag_ you down to hell with me.”

A hysterical laugh burst from Dream’s lips, though Tubbo doesn’t know how, his lips are already a pale shade of blue.

Jschlatt throws Dream onto the ground and steps in between Dream and Tubbo.

Dream coughs violently as he inhales and begins to laugh hysterically despite the lack of oxygen.

“So you finally show up, Schlatt!” Dream inhales as he wobbles back to his feet, “I’m surprised to see you defending him. I thought you despised traitors.”

“I only despise you. Tubbo’s actions were justified, they always were. I was just too caught up in my own arrogance to see it.”

A sob ruptures quietly from Tubbo and Ranboo pulls the president to his chest. His eyes never leaving Schlatt. The ex-president nods at him and then turns back to Dream. 

“Oh don’t get all high and mighty on me now, Jschlatt. I saw the look in your eyes that day, they  _ boiled _ in hatred.” Dream spits and Jschlatt punches him sending the man tumbling to the ground.

“Only for myself. Now get the fuck out of here if you know what’s good for you.” Schlatt growls as he crouches down next to him. He grabs Dream’s hair and pulls him up to meet his face.

_ “You are no longer welcome in Manburg.” _

“That’s not for you to decide.” Dream snaps and spits at him, pointless really since it just goes right through him.

Schlatt looks up at Tubbo who is still curled in Ranboo’s arms. The teen sniffs and pulls away. He walks confidently with all the grace and respect Jschlatt taught him. The boy kneels down next to him.

“Dream, you are now and forevermore exiled from Manburg. If you ever step foot here again, well...you heard my father.”

“You are going to regret this, Tubbo. I would think about this more carefully.”

“I don’t need to. Stay away from L’manburg, stay away from Tommy, and stay away from me.” Tubbo growls, darkly. Jschlatt couldn’t help it as the pride wells in his chest. 

Jschlatt releases Dream and kicks him harshly in the stomach.

“Just remember, Dream. I’m here now. And I’m here to stay. I’m not like Ghostbur, I remember everything. It’s my curse. But I will defend my son’s country from now until the end of time.”

“Just wait then, by the time I’m done. The only remnants of this place will have been reduced to ash and blood.” Dream points a finger at Tubbo, “ _His blood_.”

Then Dream reaches into his pocket and pulls out a stack of ender pearls. Tubbo places a hand in front of Schlatt, preventing him from attacking. The three watch in silence as the former ruler of the SMP pearls away in defeat.

Many long minutes pass before anyone moves. Jschlatt looks down and finds the arm splayed out in front of him is shaky. Gently, the ghost turns to Tubbo and finds fat tears streaming freely down his face. Schlatt places his hands on his son’s cheeks as he wipes away the tears.

Tubbo’s voice breaks as he speaks, “You should hate me, w-why don’t you hate me?”

Schlatt’s face crumples as his heart sinks to his stomach. Tubbo blames himself. The ghost pulls the boy to his chest, his ethereal form crying out from overuse. He can’t hold this form for much longer.

Tubbo sobs as his arms curl around his father. Jschlatt rubs the boy’s back gently and buries his nose into Tubbo’s hair.

“I could never hate you, Tubbo,” Schlatt whispers and pulls back to look into his son’s piercing blue eyes. “You were the only light in my dark, dark world, kid. The only thing I ever truly loved. You don’t have a damn thing to apologize for.”

“B-But I betrayed you! I betrayed Manburg.” Tubbo cries and Schlatt shushes him gently.

“No, Tubbo. You were only looking out for your friends and I couldn’t see it. After the festival, I let the entire country spiral into chaos. I couldn’t live with myself after what I did to you. So I drank myself to death to wash away the pain.” Schlatt rested his head against his son’s forehead, “I’m so sorry, son. I’m so sorry for everything.”

A sharp pain pierces into Schlatt’s stomach and he knows he’s out of time. His hands begin to phase through Tubbo as his form begins to fail.

“W-wait! Don’t go! Please don’t go, dad!” Tubbo yells, desperately trying to hold on.

“I have to. I’ve been here too long. I’ll come back, I promise. Whenever you need me, I’ll be there.” Schlatt’s voice has fallen to a whisper and he lets his eyes flutter shut as he fades away.

“No! Dad! Please come back!  _ Please!”  _ Black and white hands wrap around the sobbing teen as Ranboo pulls Tubbo against him. 

Tubbo buries his face in Ranboo’s neck as he lets his heart pour out onto the grass. The two remain there until long after the sun has dipped below the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these chapters keep getting longer and longer and I am okay with it.
> 
> DADSCHLATT DADSCHLATT DADSCHLATT
> 
> i was going to make schlatt a villian but my dadschlatt heart said ✨no✨
> 
> also tubbo and ranboo are so cute to write (platonically) but damn if canon right now isn't making me miss the hell out of tubbo and tommy.
> 
> also if you can't tell, the events of the story are slowly starting to merge with canon;)
> 
> PLEASE LEAVE I COMMENT IF YOU ENJOY THEY MOTIVATE ME SO MUCH! PLEASE I WANT TO HEAR YOU GUYS SCREAM ABOUT DADSCHLATT

**Author's Note:**

> Subscribe to me on Tumblr! @emiartse


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